General

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Medium-sized warbler with dark-streaked, blue-gray upperparts and bright yellow rump. Throat and belly are white and breast is black. Head is black with yellow crown, white eye-rings, and faint eyestripes. Wings are dark with yellow shoulder patches and two white bars. Tail is dark with white corners. Female is duller and has streaked sides and flanks. Juvenile resembles female but lacks yellow crown, shoulder patches, and tail markings.

Range and Habitat

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Breeds from northern Alaska, northern Manitoba, central Quebec, and Newfoundland south and west to northern Mexico and east to Michigan, northern New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. Spends winters from the southern part of its breeding range southward into the tropics. A highly adaptable bird found in a variety of habitats including coniferous forests, mixed woodlands, deciduous forests, pine plantation, bogs, forest edges, and openings. In the winter, it is often found in brushy thickets of bayberry and wax myrtle.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chek"

Interesting Facts

 The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America.

 The eastern Myrtle and western Audubon forms were once considered separate species. Easily identified from one another, the Myrtle has a white throat, while the Audubon’s is yellow.

 Able to digest 80% of wax-coated berries such as bayberries, the Yellow-rumped Warbler is capable of wintering farther north than any other warbler.

 A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Author

Gary Owen Dick