I saw two male Orange-crowned Warblers (Oreothlypis celata) chasing one another through the yard this morning. This is somewhat unusual at this time of year since these birds are in all likelihood wintering birds, and as such they should not be that interested in defending territory and such. That will all start in about a month (at the earliest) here in central California when the earliest males will arrive for breeding in mid February and the bulk of the rest will arrive by mid March. So these males may have just been doing some practice competing. Some halfhearted pursuing just to make sure they have not lost the edge they will need again soon.
Of the four subspecies that are widely agreed upon in this species, the one we have here is O. c. lutescens. It is a coastal subspecies that breeds from Alaska to southern California and winters from northern California to Baja California. That places central California in the happy position of being in the overlap where we can see Orange-cornwed Warblers all year long. I hope that is the case here in my specific neighborhood.
abirdingnaturalist 