Ed, we have Townsend's every winter coming to suet feeders. Quite a few times I have seen one land on a hummingbird feeder and apparently take some sugar water from along the edge where we had spilled it when filling the feeder. Yellow-rumped are also around all winter, but I haven't seen one do that.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle


> On Feb 1, 2021, at 10:32 PM, <EdSwan2 at Comcast.net> <EdSwan2 at Comcast.net> wrote:

>

> Our neighbors have a large old mahonia bush with many yellow blossoms that blooms for much of the winter. Anna's Hummingbirds fight to protect this territory a lot and I was surprised to see a Townsend's Warbler able to forage in the bush without being attacked several times recently. This morning, I noticed that the female Townsend's appeared to be inserting its beak into the flowers like it was accessing nectar as opposed to gleaning for insects.

>

> Is that a known foraging behavior for Townsend's? I have seen them drink from a hummingbird feeder before but I have not seen them try nectar feeding from plants. Cornell's Birds of the World doesn't really have that much information on their diet. It does mention that they drink honeydew from scale insects in Central America, which I thought was interesting.

>

> It was a good warbler day with Townsend's, Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warblers all getting suet from the suet feeder or hopping on the ground to get suet bits dislodged by a flicker.

>

> Ed in West Seattle

>

> Ed Swan

> Nature writer and guide

> www.theswancompany.com <http://www.theswancompany.com/>

> edswan2 at comcast.net <mailto:edswan2 at comcast.net>

> 206.949.3545

>

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