Wow, how lucky can we get! It is not that we have not seen
Townsend's Warblers on our tree farm before, but they have always
been seen high in our Douglas-fir trees, requiring binoculars to
see them, quickly flitting around from branch to branch. Today at
noon, as we were sitting down eating lunch, Bill shouted "Look!
look!". Out the window on our tallow/peanutbutter/cereal "bird
bread" cage was a brilliant female Townsend's Warbler! Her yellow
throat practically glowed, and the little yellow area under her
eye was visible without binoculars, along with the two white
wing bars and the white belly with black marks along the sides.
Even the white outer tail feathers were visible as she dined at
the swinging feeder for several minutes. And now, as I write this
message, a male Townsend's Warbler has come to the bird-bread
feeder. His throat is not pure black--just a bit speckled, and
his lower breast is yellow with black marks on the side.
Maybe these beautiful warblers will visit our food source
again this winter, now that they have found it. We certainly hope
so!

Erin

Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond, WA U.S.A.
<wwwbike at halcyon.com>