Common Yellowthroat

Geothlypis trichasOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Common Yellowthroat: Small, skulking warbler with olive-yellow upperparts, bright yellow throat and breast, and pale gray belly. Head has a black mask with thick white border above. Legs are pink. Female and juvenile have dull yellow or dingy white underparts, white eye-ring, and lack black mask; juvenile male may exhibit partial mask.

Range and Habitat

Common Yellowthroat: Breeds throughout Alaska, Canada, and the U.S. Spends winters in southern states and in the tropics. Preferred habitats include briers, damp brushy places, weeds, or grass along country roads or in agricultural lands; also found in cattails, bulrushes, sedges, and willows near streams, swamps, and marshes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wichity-wichity-wich", "which-is-it", "chip" removed r from "chip" see column C

Interesting Facts

The male Common Yellowthroat performs a special flight song, given as he rises high into the air on fluttering wings. When choosing a mate, females appear to prefer males with larger masks.

One adult was found in the stomach of a largemouth bass.

They are apparently monogamous within a breeding season and only infrequently will males be seen with two mates in their territory. Females, however, show no fidelity to their mates and often attract other males with their calls.

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

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat: Small, skulking warbler with olive-yellow upperparts, bright yellow throat and breast, and pale gray belly. The head has a black mask with a thick white border above, black bill. Legs are pink. Slow weak flight, alternates periods of rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "wichity-wichity-wich", "which-is-it", "chip" removed r from "chip" see column C

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Yellowthroat: Eats grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, and spiders; sometimes feeds on seeds; forages in shrubbery, grass, and weeds.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Yellowthroat: Three to six white eggs with brown, gray, and black flecks are laid in a loose nest made of grass, sedge, and bark, lined with rootlets, hair, and fine grass, and concealed on or near the ground in a dense clump of weeds or grass. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the female.

● Similar species: Common Yellowthroat: Male is distinct. Female Connecticut Warbler is larger with brown hood and bolder white eye-ring. Female MacGillivray's and Mourning warblers have gray heads.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: Common Yellowthroat: Breeds throughout Alaska, Canada, and the U.S. Spends winters in southern states and in the tropics. Preferred habitats include briers, damp brushy places, weeds, or grass along country roads or in agricultural lands; also found in cattails, bulrushes, sedges, and willows near streams, swamps, and marshes.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester, Some polygamous

^PopulationCommon to abundant

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America