The Orange-crowned is a medium-sized warbler with an olive-green back and a yellow-green chest marked by indistinct gray streaks. There is a dusky gray stripe through the eye. The undertail coverts are brighter yellow. There are no wing bars or other distinctive marks on its plumage. In short, the bird is, “Striking in its plainness” (Gilbert, et al). 

As with many of our western birds this warbler is named after human beings.  John James Audubon named it in honor of the Scottish ornithologist Wiliam MacGillivray who authored the 5-volume History of British Birds (1837-1851).  However, it was later learned that John Townsend (of Townsend’s Warbler and Townsend’s Solitaire) had named it for William Tolmei, a physician who worked for Hudson Bay Company.

The Palm Warbler is one of Washington’s “Winter Warblers.” In late fall and winter, with numbers varying considerably each year, Palm Warblers migrate south along the Pacific Coast through Washington, Oregon and California. In recent years Palm Warblers have been seen in Ocean Shores and on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington.