Townsend's Solitaire

Myadestes townsendi

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family TURDIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A long-tailed gray bird of the high western mountains, the Townsend's Solitaire descends in the winter to lower elevations where it feeds almost exclusively on juniper berries.

Cool Facts

• The Townsend's Solitaire usually puts its nest on the ground, but may nest above the ground in a decaying stub or a live tree. It is especially fond of nesting along cut banks. All of the sites used are nooks or hollows beneath some sort of overhanging object that shelters the nest from above.
• During the winter, the male and female are both strongly territorial, defending patches of juniper trees against other solitaires and other birds. They feed largely or even exclusively on the juniper's ripe, fleshy berries for the entire nonbreeding season.

• The Townsend's Solitaire sings throughout the fall and winter to set up and hold its winter territory. Violent fights may break out in defense of the winter territory, because owners of large, berry-rich territories survive the winter at higher rates than solitaires on small territories with few berries.

Description

• Size: 20-22 cm (8-9 in)
• Weight: 30-35 g (1.06-1.24 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Long and slim.
• Dull gray all over.
• White eyering.
• White outer tail feathers.
• Buffy wing patch.

• Bill short, wide, and black.
• Wing feathers dark gray with wide band of buff at the base.
• Tertials edged in white.
• Legs black.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Immature

Juvenile heavily spotted all over in black, white, and buff.

Similar Species

• Female Mountain Bluebird similar, but has shorter tail, has blue in wings and tail, and lacks any buffy in wings.

Sound

Song long and complex series of clear warbling notes. Call a high-pitched, ringing "tew."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in mountains from Alaska to the Northwest Territories, and from British Columbia to South Dakota, California, and central Mexico.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Canada southward, usually at lower elevations in breeding range. Also extends eastward to Nebraska.

Habitat

Breeds in mountainous areas, especially in open coniferous forests. Winters from coastal areas to mountain valleys where juniper is present.

Food

Insects, spiders, some berries. In winter eats primarily fleshy female cones ("berries") of junipers.

Behavior

Foraging

Flycatches for flying insects, picks insects off trees and ground.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Cup of pine needles lined with grass stems or strips of bark, placed on platform of twigs on ground or cliff under an overhang; especially often along cut banks.

Egg Description

Variable in color from dull white to pink, to greenish blue; marked with numerous blotches or spots.

Clutch Size

1-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless and naked or with some patches of down.

Conservation Status

Not well sampled, but populations show no significant trends.

Other Names

Solitaire de Townsend (French)
Clarín Norteño (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Bowen, R. V. 1997. Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi). In The Birds of North America, No. 269 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.