Hi Marie,

You can even see the usually hidden orange crown on your nice Orange-crowned
Warbler! Seattle Audubon's BirdWeb is a fantastic reference any time you have a
question about whether a given species should be present at a given time of the
year for any region of WA state:

http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=373

This indicates that Orange-crowns are rare but not completely unexpected in your
area at this time. My impression is that there have been a few more area
reports of Orange-crowns than usual this late fall/winter.

Your bird has a grayish head, which indicates that it is not the subspecies that
breeds in our area, lutescens. But I'm not sure if it can confidently be
assigned to one of the two other subspecies, orestera or celata. I'd be very
interested if anyone has more information on this. Here's a nice reference to
get you started on the subspecies:

http://www.birdfellow.com/journal/2010/05/01/orange_crowned_warbler_stealth_migrant_subspecies


Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA