Orange-crowned Warblers are very small warblers with slender
bills, broken eye-rings, and partial eye-lines. They are one of
the drabbest warblers, olive-green above and yellow below, with
brighter yellow undertail coverts. Two subspecies breed in
Washington (divided by the Columbia Basin). The western
Washington breeders are brighter yellow than the eastern
Washington breeding form. Both sexes can have an orange-brown
crown. Females' crowns are generally browner, or lack the color
variation entirely. The orange markings are most visible on
males in the spring, but can be difficult to see, especially at
other times of the year. Orange-crowned Warblers are commonly
found in shrubby thickets and deciduous woodlands, especially
those with aspen and willow. During migration, they are often
found at higher elevations, in alder and mountain ash stands, or
along lowland streams in red-osier dogwood and Himalayan
blackberry thickets. Weedy fields with dense clumps of cover are
important in migration and at wintering