Subject: [Tweeters] Townsend's Warbler - unusual behavior? - West Seattle
Date: Jan 8 19:59:30 2012
From: vogelfreund at comcast.net - vogelfreund at comcast.net


That reminds me of my duplex quarters at Fort Huachuca, back in 1969-71. We had two small hummingbird feeders under the eaves in the shade. Hooded and Bullock's Orioles, House Finches, and various hummingbirds (mostly Black-chinned) raided those feeders. And at least one Acorn Woodpecker was seen different times clinging to someone's hummingbird feeder near the base of Huachuca Canyon.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry Ulman" <ubarry at qwest.net>
To: "Trileigh Tucker" <TRI at seattleu.edu>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2012 11:58:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Townsend's Warbler - unusual behavior? - West Seattle

Once a Bullock's Oriole landed on my hummingbird feeder and tried to feed. At Barranca del Cobre in Mexico, Acorn Woodpeckers fed from the hummingbird feeders at the hotel.


Barry Ulman
Bellingham, WA.





On Jan 8, 2012, at 10:38 AM, Tucker, Trileigh wrote:




Hello, Tweets,


The balcony off my study has a suet feeder, a sunflower-seed feeder, a hummingbird feeder, and a birdbath, so I'm used to a steady stream of customers. But just now I had a surprise visitor: a Townsend's Warbler. That was exciting enough! I know others have seen them around this winter, but this is my first that I ever remember seeing this time of year.


But then I was particularly startled when it began drinking from the feeder. It hopped onto the adjacent suet, so I thought perhaps it was just checking out this strange device, but then it went back to the feeder and clearly drank from the tube, swallowed, drank again.


The birdbath 18" away has fresh, clean, unsugared water in it. I guess the warbler has simply discovered a new and tasty source of extra calories? Has anyone else seen this? I had recently noted that the Chestnut-Backed Chickadees were occasionally hopping to the tube; maybe the warbler had witnessed them and decided to try for itself?


Photos starting at http://www.flickr.com/photos/trileigh/6660948843/in/photostream . Two photos later you can see the warbler actually drinking.


(By the way, my latest blog entry includes photos of the magnificent Griffon Vultures I encountered in my recent trip to Andaluc?a. I'm in the process of ID'ing and posting more bird photos from that trip; will let you know when they're up on Flickr.)


Happy New Birding Year to all!
Trileigh
Lincoln Park, West Seattle




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Trileigh Tucker
Natural history blog: Naturalpresence.wordpress.com
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