Townsend's warbler
| Townsend's warbler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Parulidae |
| Genus: | Setophaga |
| Species: | S. townsendi |
| Binomial name | |
| Setophaga townsendi (Townsend, 1837) | |
 | |
| Range of S. townsendi Breeding range Year-round range Wintering range | |
Townsend's warbler (Setophaga townsendi) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.
Description
These birds have a yellow face with a black stripe across their 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. 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.
| Standard Measurements[2][3] | |
|---|---|
| length | 4.5–5 in (110–130 mm) |
| weight | 8.8 g (0.31 oz) |
| wingspan | 8 in (200 mm) |
| wing | 63.1–69.9 mm (2.48–2.75 in) |
| tail | 47.1–54 mm (1.85–2.13 in) |
| culmen | 9.9–10.8 mm (0.39–0.43 in) |
| tarsus | 18.1–19 mm (0.71–0.75 in) |
Life history
Their breeding habitats are coniferous forests with large trees on the northwestern coast of North America. Their nests are shallow cups built with grass and lined with moss. These nests are usually placed atop a branch in a conifer. The female lays 4 to 5 brown-speckled white eggs.
This bird is closely related to the hermit warbler, and the two species interbreed where their ranges overlap.[3]
Birds from the Queen Charlotte Islands migrate short distances further south on the Pacific coast. Other birds winter in Mexico, Central America, and the south-western United States.
They forage actively in the higher branches, sometimes hovering or catching insects in flight. 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.
The song of the male bird is a buzzed zee-zee-zee-bzz-zee, somewhat similar to that of its eastern relative, the black-throated green warbler. The call is a sharp tup.
This bird was named after the American ornithologist, John Kirk Townsend. 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.
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Dendroica townsendi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 331.
- 1 2 Sibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Knopf. p. 438. ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Setophaga townsendi. |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Setophaga townsendi |
- Townsend's warbler videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
- Townsend's warbler species account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Townsend's warbler - Dendroica townsendi - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Townsend's warbler photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Townsend's warbler species account at NeotropicalBirds (Cornell University)