Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
DENDROICA TOWNSENDI (Townsend)
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER
HABITS
This warbler always reminds me of our familiar black-throated green
warbler, which it resembles slightly in color pattern but more
particularly in its habits and its drowsy song. Its voice is as much
associated with the northwestern forests of tall firs as is that of our
eastern bird with the pine woods of New England. Its breeding range is
confined to the coniferous forests from Prince William Sound and the
upper Yukon in Alaska south to Washington and east to southwestern
Alberta and western Montana, but it is better known as a migrant through
the Rocky Mountain region in general and as a winter visitant in
California.
Samuel F. Rathbun writes to me from Seattle, Wash., that Townsend's
warbler is widely distributed throughout that region. "It is found in
the lowlands to some extent as a summer resident, but by far the greater
number of the birds will be found summering in the more mountainous and
unsettled parts of the region. In some parts it is abundant. During the
migrations I have noted it following the deciduous growth and nearby
conifers along water courses, but when settled in its summer home, it is
almost entirely restricted to the high conifers, a habit that seems to
be followed even during rainy and stormy days. I am of the opinion that
it must nest at a considerable height, for on several occasions I have
seen the birds carrying material into trees at a height of over one
hundred feet."
Taylor and Shaw (1927) write: "On entering the great forest of the
Pacific Northwest, with its solitude, the deep-shaded grandeur of its
brown-barked pillars and its stillness, one can almost imagine himself
in a different world. Incessantly repeated, apparently from the very
crowns of the trees, comes the song of the Townsend warbler, denizen of
upper foliage strata. Found in early summer from Alaska south to the
State of Washington, the Townsend warbler finds on Mount Rainier
approximately the southern limit of its breeding range." Similar haunts
seem to have been chosen wherever the species has been found breeding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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