Townsend's Warbler

Dendroica townsendiOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: TOWA Scientific Name: DENTOW ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178897

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Townsend's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler: Olive-green upperparts, black throat and upper breast. Lower breast and sides are yellow with black streaks and belly is white.Face is yellow with black crown and cheek patch and yellow crescent below eye. Wings have two white bars. Tail has white edges, dark center and tip.

● Song: "zwee-zwee-zwee", "tew", "eek", "whee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Townsend's Warbler: Diet consists of insects and spiders; forages by gleaning prey from clumps of leaves while perched or hovering; occasionally catches flying insects in mid-air.

● Breeding & nesting: Townsend's Warbler: Three to five white eggs, with small brown spots, are laid in a well-concealed shallow cup nest, usually in a conifer. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the female.

● Similar species: Townsend's Warbler: Black-throated Green Warbler has yellow cheeks and face without dark ear patches. Hermit Warbler lacks black cheeks and crown.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: Townsend's Warbler: Breeds from Alaska and British Columbia to northern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Spends winters from southwestern California southward. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests, especially old stands of Douglas firs.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common in coniferous range

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America