Scott Underwood wrote:
"A male Townsend's Warbler has been visiting our feeder frequently. Is
this an abnormal occurance for January? I had thought this area a
little North of their wintering range; I was just wondering how frequent
they might be...? This is our first townie visit in January."

Thanks,
Scott Underwood
Bothell, WA
mailto:sunderwood at horizonsoft.com

Hi Scott -

No, this isn't too far north for Townsend's... they're one of our few
'wintering' warblers.... them and the Orange-crowns and the Yellow-rumps
(most of which in my neck of the woods are 'Myrtles'.) We get a number of
Townsend's warbs in the Christmas Bird Counts throughout the Puget Trough -
although they're usually in singles and pairs, I've even seen a few flocks -
of up to about a dozen at a time.

I have a bird-banding permit from the Feds, and, Curiously, although I band
about 200 juncos and lesser numbers of sparrows, towhees, etc. every winter,
I caught, banded and released my first Townsend's Warbler here in west Oly
this winter - - a female that had hatched this past season.

If you surf the web for the Christmas Bird Count info, you should get an
idea of the frequency of birds in the area in the winter. You can sort by
species/state/etc. at http://www.birdsource.org/CBCOutput/circle_select.html

http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/ has info on the 102nd CBC.

Hope this helps,

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net