This little songbird is olive green with yellow undertail coverts and slight streaking on the breast that looks blurry. They have sharp pointy bills and a thin white or yellow stripe over the eye. There is an orange crown on the head that is seldom seen unless the feathers are raised when the bird is excited or agitated. This bird must have a peaceful spirit. I browsed photos online and didn’t come across any photos of the crown raised. Also, I imagine the orange is fairly subdued and not as bright as a ruby-crowned kinglet, for example.
If you want to see one at the arboretum, look along the river bank. I am seeing them foraging in the willows and osoberries. Their diet consists mainly of invertebrate prey, including ants, beetles, spiders, flies, and caterpillars.
On All About Birds Most it says, “Orange-crowned Warblers nest on the ground, possibly to avoid nest-robbing birds. One exception is the sordida or ‘dusky’ subspecies that breeds on California’s Channel Islands.” I thought this was interesting because I didn’t imagine a warbler that I see flitting through trees and shrubs as nesting on the ground. In Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests it says, “Nest and placement are similar to those of other ground-nesting wood warblers; frequently on shaded woody slopes, hillsides, canyons, or steep banks.”
Peterson describes their voice as: “Song a colorless trill, becoming weaker toward end. Often changes pitch, rising or dropping slightly. Call a sharp stik.” Click here to listen on All About Birds. When you go to listen, you’ll notice that Orange-crowned Warblers are divided into four subspecies. “The one named celata is found in Alaska and across Canada, and it is the dullest and grayest. The Pacific Coast form, lutescens, is the brightest yellow. Found throughout the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin, orestera is intermediate in appearance. The form sordida is the darkest green and is found only on the Channel Islands and locally along the coast of southern California and northern Baja California (All About Birds).”
Resources
McFarland, Casey, et al. Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.
Orange-Crowned Warbler Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Orange-crowned_Warbler/lifehistory. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.
Orange-Crowned Warbler Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Orange-crowned_Warbler/overview. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.
Peterson, Roger Tory, et al. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. 4th ed, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.
