Townsend's Warbler, Setophaga townsendi
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![]() The gorgeous Townsend's Warbler is a regular winterer in central California, more common along the immediate coast, where this bird was photographed, than inland, where I live. Males, as above, have the complete black-and-yellow "tiger striped" look, while females, as below, an Arizona bird, are gray where males are black, and lack the dark throat. Both sexes have an olive-colored mantle. |
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![]() A male on the nesting grounds, in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley northeast of Anchorage, Alaska. Townsend's Warblers nest in Alaska, western Canada, and the northwestern United States. |
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![]() In the winter of 2007, we were privileged to have the Townsend's male above as a regular in our yard. He lacked the normal feathering at the base of his bill; my guess is that these feathers were pulled out as he fed on insects in gummy eucalyptus trees in our neighborhood. |
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![]() Above, an Arizona male to match the female further up the page. |
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![]() The incomplete black throat patch marks this bird as a first-winter male. |
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![]() Apart from the lengthy stay by the male shown up the page in the winter of 2007, most winters we have a few individual and always welcome visits to our back yard by Townsend's Warblers, like the female above at our fountain. Below, for the rest of the page, female Townsend's foraging and eating. |
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![]() Above and below, two female Townsend's feeding on winter persimmons in the Santa Cruz mountains. The bird shown below has relatively dark facial markings for a female, but is identified as such by the absence of a dark throat patch. |
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