I had the opportunity not long ago to closely observe several T. warbs
foraging in a hemlock which was outside a window of a house I was visiting.
They reminding me very much of chickadees in that they probed the underside
of the branches and needle bases extensively. I watched one with my bins up
very close and it nabbed what looked like a spiders egg case from the
underside of a branch and ate it with dispatch. I once heard in a lecture
that any given 75 year old conifer tree will host between 50,000 and 300,000
insect eggs and pupae. If that is true it seems like it would fuel a fair
number of bird motors. I also read somewhere that birds only take 40% of
their diet from feeders and will continue to forage for the remainder.


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
><((((?>`?..?`?..?`?...><((((?>...?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`
?..?`?...><((((?>?.. ><((((?>
?`?..?`?...?..?`><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>.?`?..?`?...><((((?>..?`?..?`?..
.><((((?>?.. ?`?..?`?....?`?..?`?...><((((?>


-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Christine
Southwick
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 8:04 AM
To: Scott Atkinson
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Townsend's Warblers at suet feeders

So the question I have is "What do Townsend's usually eat? I'm assuming
insects. So, if that is true, is it reasonable to assume that most of the
insects that they eat were killed by the cold weather?

Christine Southwick
N Seattle/Shoreline
clsouthwick at comcast.net

On Wed, 7 Feb 2007, Scott Atkinson wrote:

> Tweeters:
>
> This has to be an all-time banner winter for Townsend's coming to suet
> feeders given the reports in lately. I'll add one more from my
> younger sister, who says she has had "four to six" (!) Townsend's
> coming to the family suet feeder at their residence in the Silver Lake
area (s.e. Everett nearing Snohomish).
>
> Scott Atkinson
> Lake Stevens
> mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Search for grocery stores. Find gratitude. Turn a simple search into
> something more.
> http://click4thecause.live.com/search/charity/default.aspx?source=hmem
> tagline_gratitude&FORM=WLMTAG
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>


_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters