Townsend’s Warbler, Charlotte, North Carolina, March 14, 2025

On the morning of March 7 a text came across the local Blue Ridge Birders text group that a Townsend’s Warbler was coming to a feeder in Charlotte.  Although it was first being reported on the 7th, there was a rumor that it had been present for a couple weeks.  So it certainly seemed to be reliable.  That would be a great bird to chase after and try to add to my NC state list.  It was within my self-imposed 2-hour driving limit to chase rarities – well sort of.  And the homeowner was quite accommodating, allowing birders to watch his feeders from inside his house.

Now it just needed to stick around until I was free.  Unfortunately, I had commitments for each day over the next week and wasn’t free until the 14th.  And even on that day I needed to be home by about Noon.  I kept watching the reports and the Townsend’s Warbler continued to be seen quite regularly at the feeder.  That is until the 13th when it wasn’t seen until the afternoon.  That was more than a bit troubling, but I decided to go for the chase after all, though giving it maybe just a 50/50 chance of success.

After an early 6 AM departure I arrived at the Warbler site just after 8 and the homeowner met me at the door.  He said he hadn’t seen it yet that morning but I was welcome to come inside to watch the feeders.  That sounded inviting, but instead I opted to watch for it in the backyard.  Not only are the feeders visible from the yard, but the bird was also sometimes being seen from the yard both before coming to the feeder and after leaving it. 

The yard was quite birdy, with nearly constant activity at the nice feeding station.  Here is a picture of the backyard deck – the Warbler was coming to the suet feeder toward the left.

The homeowner pointed out the trees in which the Warbler was most often seen, including a nice cedar that looked like one that a Townsend’s might visit in its natural habitat.  So I was all set and ready to wait it out.  At least for a couple hours anyway. 

Just after I arrived a bright yellow Pine Warbler dropped in to eat mealworms – that got my heart racing momentarily but it wasn’t the target bird.  Then no more than 5 minutes later a small bird flew into a deciduous tree overhead.  I got a glimpse of yellow on the bird as it landed, but was it just another Pine?  I got it in my binoculars and it was instead the target Townsend’s Warbler!  It then flew to the feeder where I got these “digi-bin” pictures.

Over the next 90 minutes the bird visited the feeder roughly every 30 minutes, each time pausing in several different trees in the back yard, including the juniper.  And a couple times it even sang softly.  What a great show, especially after its limited visits the day before.

I can’t thank the homeowner enough for his hospitality!

My state bird map for this species is inserted below.  The light blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen it in its regular range.  The cross-hatched states are those where I’ve yet to see it in that range.  And the 4 dark blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Townsend’s Warbler as a rarity – one I found on my own in NH, at feeders in MA, as a woodland stakeout in RI, and now at feeders in NC.  Townsend’s Warbler was #327 for my NC list.  (Interestingly, Townsend's Warbler was #327 for my RI list as well.)

Townsend’s Warbler, Trustom Pond, RI, November 2017

Townsend’s Warbler is a very rare vagrant in New England, with birds typically being spotted in late fall or winter.  My first ever New England Townsend’s was a bird I found at Odiorne Point State Park in NH over Thanksgiving weekend in 1993 – the first year I moved to New England.  Unfortunately that bird was a 1-day wonder which no one else saw.  At the other end of the spectrum sometimes Townsend’s will appear at feeding stations, spending much of the winter returning to the same location, which was the case for the one I saw in Cambridge, MA in 2007. 

So when a Townsend’s Warbler was reported at Trustom Pond NWR in RI, only the third record for the state, I really wanted to chase after it.  But as with most of these chases I had to be able to clear my calendar and hope that this non-feeder bird would stick around until I was free.  Luckily this one was reported for the next couple days, hanging out in the same location at Trustom Pond, and seen by a bunch of birders (though some needed several hours to find the bird).  Despite numerous posts, directions were at best confusing, especially since I wasn’t too familiar with the nooks and crannies of the refuge.  Several reports mentioned the bird was seen along the Red Maple Trail near the old windmill and near a bench that was dedicated to local birder Phil Budlong.  Other reports just said near the windmill.  I thought that meant there was a stretch of trail between the windmill and bench to look for the bird.  So my plan was to start walking the Red Maple Trail and look for the bench and windmill, and hopefully look for other birders too.

When I arrived at the refuge early in the morning I was happy to see a dozen cars in the parking lot - undoubtedly these were birders already searching for the same target bird.  My plan was coming together - I could get close to the bird’s location along Red Maple Trail and then look for the birders to tell me the correct spot.  “Bird the birders” as I say.  Perfect…  I started down the Red Maple Trail and quickly found the bench dedicated to Phil Budlong.  But there were no birders to be seen.  My first thought was that I wasn’t in the correct spot and all those birders were somewhere else looking at the target bird.  So I decided to check my e-mail for updates and sure enough there was a new post that the bird was seen in the original spot about 20 minutes earlier “near the windmill”.  But I couldn’t find any windmill.  Again that made me think that I was in the wrong location.

I was about to head farther down the trail to look for windmill and the birders, but quickly realized there was a major flock of passerines there.  What should I do – hope I was in the right spot and search through the birds (perhaps including the Townsends’), or should I keep searching for the birders (and the windmill) instead?  Although I also heard some distant chip notes that made me think I might have been hearing the Townsend’s, I decided to keep looking for the birders.  Just when I started farther down the trail I spotted a greenish-yellow bird fly by and got excellent looks at an Orange-crowned Warbler!  A great bird for RI and only my second for the state, but it wasn’t my target bird.  So I kept walking a bit farther and didn’t see anyone.  At this point I decided to head back to the original spot to search through the flock I briefly saw earlier.

I got back to initial location just a couple minutes later but by now most of the birds were gone - ugh.  So I concentrated on the area where I heard the potential Townsend’s chip notes and heard the calls again.  And then I heard them again, this time closer nearby.  A few seconds later I spotted a bird high in a deciduous tree – it was the Townsend’s!  I bet the bird was in the area as soon as I got to the spot.  Luckily it stayed put while I tried to figure everything out.  And while looking at the Townsend’s I noticed the windmill – no more than 30 ft from the bench tucked back into the woods hidden from the trail.  Like I always say – chasing down my target birds often requires a lot of detective work.

So there I was looking at Townsend’s at its key location (within a few feet of both the bench and the windmill), and there were at least a dozen birders in the park searching for it, but I was the only one there.  So much for “bird the birders”!  A minute later 3 other birders arrived and I got them on the bird.  But by the time others arrived the bird had flown off.

I stayed in the park another hour and had the bird one other time, though unfortunately again not all the birders had looks at it.

Townsend’s Warbler was #327 for me in RI.  I’ve now seen this species throughout most of its regular range in the western US and Canada, as well as in 3 New England states as rarities (see my state and province maps below).

Since I was able to find my target bird so quickly I decided to make a quick stop at nearby hotspot Mud Pond, which often has a nice group of ducks and shorebirds, and then do a brief sea watch as well.  But first I had to take a work call, and I had just enough time to drive to Mud Pond to take the call from there inside my car.  As I started on the call another birder drove up and set up his scope about 50 ft away to check out the ducks on the pond.  A minute later I noticed a bright yellow bird fly over the road in front of me and land in a bush on the other side about 10 ft behind the birder.  I put my binocs on it and it was a Yellow Warbler.  Unfortunately the other birder never even knew it was there.  I was told that that may have been the latest record for Yellow Warbler in the state.

Then just a few minutes later, while still on my call, I spotted a small bird drop in from a bush next to the road to drink from a small pool right in front of my car.  It was a Cape May Warbler, not 25 ft away from me.  An amazing pair of birds seen through my windshield while on a conference call.  Not bad…

After the call was over I headed over to Mud Pond and found a nice flock of Pintails, and a group of Dunlin foraging on the edge.  And a short stop at the beach yielded a nice Gannet show not too far offshore.  But I was actually more interested in looking for other late passerines, so I turned around and started walking north up Moonstone Beach Road to see what else I might find. 

I began a slow walk up the road, not finding too much.  But just then I noticed a large flycatcher fly over the road.  It was only a quick view and I never got the bird in my binocs.  But the “jizz” of the bird was that of a Myiarchus flycatcher.  The view was too short to eliminate a Phoebe, but I would bet it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher.  If I had still been in my car on my call I probably would have had a better view of it through the windshield as it flew by.  Go figure.  Who needs to beat the bush to go birding…  I spent the next 15 minutes in the area hoping to refind the bird, but with no luck.  At least I don’t need that one for my RI list. 

Along with numerous Yellow-rumps, I ended the morning with 5 species of warblers.  Not to mention the mystery flycatcher.  The Trustom Pond area can be good for fall migrants, though I’m not sure if I’ve ever had as many as 5 warbler species there in a single day before, even during the peak of migration.