I made the trip up to Kewaunee this morning with hopes to see the very rare visitor to Wisconsin, the Townsend’s Warbler. It has been visiting a feeder in a yard there for at least a week now. It is not seen often but visits daily. This bird is a 1st year female. The host Pam S. has many feeders in her yard and this is one of the places this bird visits. I say that as her sister lives 5 blocks away, this bird also visits her feeder too, along with many feeders that can be seen looking up and down the street. A small group of us showed up at the start of the day today which visitors are not allowed till 10:00 am thru 4:00 pm. Surprisingly the bird had stopped in the early morning but showed briefly at about 10:05 am. We all got looks, but images were a different story with his brief visit. Most left but Jay W and I hung around till noon. As I started heading to my car about 12:02, Jay yelled, it is back. We both got nice views and a few shots as it took a drink at the heated bird bath in the yard. This bird has been eating seeds at the feeders. The visit was brief again, we thought it headed up into a large spruce tree on the property. We were both happy with what we got, very cold and headed out. I heard this was the 6th Wisconsin state record for this species, a western bird far from it’s normal range of the north American west coast. What a stunning bird! A big thank you to Pam S. for sharing this amazing bird with the birding community. With very cold temps coming in the state and a big snow blanket coming along with that it will be interesting to see how long it hangs around. An awesome life bird that I just did not think I would be getting anytime soon, but as birding goes, one never really knows. Weather was high in the mid 20’s, some sun with clouds and a lot of north wind, very cold! If visiting for this bird, Pam asks that you view from the driveway. Images were taken on December 9, 2016.
Townsend’s Warbler
Binomial name: Dendroica townsendi
Category: Wood-Warblers
Size: 5” long, 8” wing span
Weight: 0.31 oz
Getting a drink
The gulp
Back view
Townsend’s Warbler inside the feeder looking out to the right, with an American Goldfinch in front
Just another shot of this cool bird!
Wow. Nice pics. We too were in Kewaunee today as we have family there. Did find and watched two adult male Long tailed ducks in the harbor. They were georgeous. Thanks for sharing your Towsends warbler find.
Beautiful photos Jim!! Would love to see that cute little bird in our mostly barren backyard right now! Thank you for sharing them.