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Bird of the Month Yellow-rumped Warblers are gray with white in the wings and yellow on the face, sides, and rump. There are two subspecies, the "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler of the east and the "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler of the west. The Audubon's has a yellow throat whereas the Myrtle's throat is white. They eat insects and spiders in the summer and in winter they eat fruit, particularly bayberry and wax myrtle, which their digestive systems are uniquely suited to digest; this allows Yellow-rumped Warblers to winter farther north than any other warbler species. Yellow-rumped Warblers spend the summer breeding season in coniferous and coniferous-deciduous woodlands. Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warblers breed in western mountains from Southern California (our local mountains) north to Alaska. In the Pacific Northwest, they summer down to sea level wherever conifers are present. Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers breed from the boreal forest of central Canada, where they overlap with Audubon's, eastward to Newfoundland and south to the Appalachian Mountains. Yellow-rumped Warblers winter in a variety of habitats across the southern half of the U.S. and all of Mexico and Central America, with Audubon's in the west and Myrtle in the east. Audubon's Yellow rumped warblers are common in winter at Four Seasons and have been seen during almost every winter bird walk. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB Our morning group bird walk on Jan. 8 produced 24 species. The highlight was an Allen's Hummingbird, a beautiful adult male seen well by all on Trail A behind The Lodge. This is the same location where our first- recorded Allen's Hummingbird was seen on March 7, 2020. Other highlights included good looks at three Red-shouldered Hawks, a fly-over flock of California Gulls, and a first-of-season Hermit Thrush. Later in the day, Genie and Bill Cooper, Tom Paulek, and I saw 10 additional species for a total of 34 species for the day. Highlights included Dark-eyed Juncos, a White- breasted Nuthatch, Red-winged Blackbirds, and an American Pipit. It was very windy for our morning group bird walk on Feb. 5 and we saw only eight species. Later in the day, Barbara Wasco, Genie and Bill Cooper, Tom Paulek, and I eked out an additional 15 species for a total of 23 species for the day, including several Yellow-rumped Warblers (our Bird of the Month). Barbara's sighting of a flock of Western Bluebirds was a highlight. ~ Steve Edelman, steve.h.edelman@ gmail.com FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2022 39 One of the three Red-shouldered Hawks seen by the Birding Club on Jan. 8. Photo by Club member Gerrie Karczynski Adult male Yellow-rumped Warbler. The yellow throat indicates this individual is a member of the western Audubon's subspecies rather than the eastern Myrtle subspecies (which has a white throat). Photo by Mick Thompson, Eastside Audubon Adult male Allen's Hummingbird seen well by all during our Jan. 8 bird walk. This bird can be differentiated from the very similar Rufous Hummingbird by the presence of green feathers on the back. Photo by Club member Gerrie Karczynski The Community Garden Club will present its next free event on Saturday, March 12 at 10 am in the RCN. Check the Activities Blast for more details in February. For info, please contact Pat Wayne at pwayne1@outlook. com. ~ Pat Wayne Community Garden Club

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