This olive-green warbler is one of the drabbest of Oregon's Warblers., often showing obscure streaking on the underparts and indistinct dark eyeline. The species is named for its telltale orange crown spot but this feature is often hidden, reduced or absent in immature and female birds, and therefore rarely observed in the field.

Orange-crowned warblers are one of the earliest and most abundant migrants in Oregon. They glean insects from the undersides of leaves and are often seen probing into dead leaf clusters and flower heads. Perhaps this is why they are able to winter farther north than most other warblers.

They are common to uncommon breeders from the coast to west slope of the Cascades, and across the Cascades in lower densities into at least Klamath and Wasco counties.

Hear the song of the Orange-crowned warbler

Photo by Fyn Kynd, Flickr