Townsend's warbler has a yellow face with a black stripe across its cheeks extending into an ear patch, a thin pointed bill, two white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly.[7] Adult males have a black cap, black throat and yellow lower breast; females have a dark cap and a yellow throat. Immature birds are similar to females with a dark green cap and cheeks.[8]
Life history
Their breeding habitats are coniferous forests with large trees on the northwestern coast of North America.[7] Their nests are shallow cups built with grass and lined with moss.[10] These nests are usually placed atop a branch in a conifer. The female lays 4 to 5 brown-speckled white eggs.[10]
This bird is closely related to the hermit warbler, and the two species interbreed where their ranges overlap.[8]
They forage actively in the higher branches, often gleaning insects from foliage and sometimes hovering or catching insects in flight.[11] They mainly eat insects and spiders and seeds. Outside of the nesting season, these birds forage in mixed flocks. In winter, they also eat berries and plant nectar,[10] and honeydew directly from the anus of scale insects.[12]
The song of the male bird is a buzzed zee-zee-zee-bzz-zee or weazy weazy weazy weazy twea,[10] somewhat similar to that of its eastern relative, the black-throated green warbler.[8] The call is a sharp tup.
This bird was named after the American ornithologist, John Kirk Townsend.[2] Although Townsend is also credited with first describing this bird, he used a name chosen by Thomas Nuttall, who was travelling with him, and so sidestepped the convention against naming a species after oneself.[7]
References
^BirdLife International (2016). "Setophaga townsendi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22721683A94723311. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22721683A94723311.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
^ a bTownsend, John Kirk (1837). "Description of twelve new species of birds, chiefly from the vicinity of the Columbia River". Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 7: 187–192 [191–192].
^Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 26.
^Chesser, R. Terry; Banks, Richard C.; Barker, F. Keith; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Lovette, Irby J.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V.; Rising, James D.; Stotz, Douglas F.; Winker, Kevin (2011). "Fifty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union check-list of North American Birds". The Auk. 128 (3): 600–613. doi:10.1525/auk.2011.128.3.600. S2CID 13691956.
^Swainson, William John (1827). "A synopsis of the birds discovered in Mexico by W. Bullock, F.L.S. and Mr. William Bullock jun". Philosophical Magazine. New Series. 1: 364–369 [368]. doi:10.1080/14786442708674330.
^ a bGill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "New World warblers, mitrospingid tanagers". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
^ a b c dWright, A. L.; Hayward, G. D.; Matsuoka, S. M.; Hayward, P. H. (2020-03-04). Rodewald, P. G. (ed.). "Birds of the World". Townsend's Warbler. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.towwar.01. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
^ a b c dSibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Knopf. p. 438. ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
^Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 331.
^ a b c d"Townsend's Warbler". Audubon Guide to North American Birds. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
^Rich, Terrell D.; Dobkin, David S. (1996). "Conservation and Management of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds in the Northern Rockies and Great Plains". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 60 (1): 209. doi:10.2307/3802059. JSTOR 3802059.
^Greenberg, Russell; Caballero, Claudia Macias; Bichier, Peter (1993). "Defense of Homopteran Honeydew by Birds in the Mexican Highlands and Other Warm Temperate Forests". Oikos. 68 (3): 519. Bibcode:1993Oikos..68..519G. doi:10.2307/3544920. JSTOR 3544920.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Setophaga townsendi.
Wikispecies has information related to Setophaga townsendi.