Townsend's Warbler Setophaga townsendi Scientific name definitions

A colorful, distinctive wood-warbler that breeds among the treetops of mature fir forests in the Pacific Northwest, Townsend's Warbler also nests in montane spruce-fir (Picea-Abies) forests in Idaho, Montana, and northwest Wyoming, and in boreal forests in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. In September, it begins its southward migration to California and the highlands of Mexico and Central America, where it is the most common of all species (including residents) in some locales.

Townsend's Warbler was among the many species first collected by John Kirk Townsend during his expedition with Thomas Nuttall through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast in 1834. The description of Townsend's Warbler first appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1837 written by Nuttall under Townsend's name (Mearns and Mearns 1992a Mearns, B. C., and R. F. Mearns (1992). Audubon to Xántus: The lives of those commemorated in North American bird names. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA. Close ). The first specimen seems to have been procured in the forests along the Columbia River near Fort Vancouver, Washington.

On its breeding grounds, this warbler consumes insects gleaned from foliage, but on its Mexican and Central American wintering grounds it often exploits honeydew excreted by sap-sucking insects. Townsend's Warbler is most closely related to the Hermit Warbler (Setophaga occidentalis) within a group including Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens) and Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia). The ranges of the Hermit Warblerand Townsend's Warbler overlap in Washington and Oregon, where they frequently hybridize (Pearson 1997 Pearson, S. F. 1997. Hermit Warbler (Dendroica occidentalis). In The Birds of North America, No. 303 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington D.C. Close ).

A. Sprunt (Sprunt 1957a Sprunt, A. (1957a). "Townsend's Warbler." In The warblers of America., edited by L. Griscom and Jr A. Sprunt, 135-137. New York: Deun-Adar Co. Close : 135) wrote, “The Townsend's [warbler] is one of the lesser known warblers.” Unfortunately, the statement is still true. With the exception of recent studies of winter species interactions (Hutto Hutto 1980 Hutto, R. L. (1980). Winter Habitat Distribution of Migrant Landbirds in Western Mexico, with Special Reference to Small Foliage-gleaning Insectivores. In Migrant Birds in the Neotropics: Ecology, Behavior, Distribution and Conservation (A. Keast and E. S. Morton, Editors). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 181–204. Close , Hutto 1987 Hutto, R. L. (1987). A Description of Mixed Species Insectivorous Bird Flocks in Western Mexico. The Condor 89:282-292. Close , Hutto 1992 Hutto, R. L. (1992). Habitat distributions of migratory landbird species in western Mexico. In Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds (J. M. Hagan and D. W. Johnston, Editors). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 221–235. Close ) and breeding biology (Mannan et al. 1983 Mannan, R. W., B. S. Hale and M. L. Morrison. (1983). Observations of nesting Townsend's Warblers in northeastern Oregon. Murrelet 64:23-25. Close , Matsuoka et al. 1997b Matsuoka, S. M., C. M. Handel, D. D. Roby and D. L. Thomas. (1997b). The relative importance of nest sites and foraging sites in selection of breeding territories by Townsend's Warblers. Auk 114:657-667. Close ), most information on the life history of the Townsend's Warbler is anecdotal or consists of isolated observations. Community studies of breeding birds in old forests of the Pacific Northwest (Ruggiero et al. 1991a Ruggiero, L. F., K. B. Aubry, A. B. Carey and M. H. Huff. (1991a). Wildlife and vegetation of unmanaged Douglas-fir forests. U.S. For. Serv. Close ) and of migrants in Central America (Hutto 1992 Hutto, R. L. (1992). Habitat distributions of migratory landbird species in western Mexico. In Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds (J. M. Hagan and D. W. Johnston, Editors). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 221–235. Close ) have provided valuable information. More recently, several investigations have focused directly on Townsend's Warbler, examining its habitat associations and breeding biology in Alaska (Matsuoka et al. 1997a Matsuoka, S. M., C. M. Handel and D. D. Roby. (1997a). Nesting ecology of Townsend's Warblers in relation to habitat characteristics in a mature boreal forest. Condor 99:271-281. Close , Matsuoka et al. 1997b Matsuoka, S. M., C. M. Handel, D. D. Roby and D. L. Thomas. (1997b). The relative importance of nest sites and foraging sites in selection of breeding territories by Townsend's Warblers. Auk 114:657-667. Close ) and its relationship with the closely related Hermit Warbler in the Cascade Mountains of Washington (Morrison and Hardy 1983a Morrison, M. L. and J. W. Hardy. (1983a). Hybridization between Hermit and Townsend's Warblers. Murrelet 64:65-72. Close ).