BASIC DESCRIPTION
North America has more than 50 species of warblers, but few combine
brilliant color and easy viewing quite like the Yellow Warbler.
In summer, the buttery yellow males sing their sweet whistled song
from willows, wet thickets, and roadsides across almost all of North
America. The females and immatures arent as bright, and lack
the males rich chestnut streaking, but their overall warm
yellow tones, unmarked faces, and prominent black eyes help pick
them out.
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Habitat
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Food
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Nesting
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Behavior
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Conservation
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Habitat
Yellow Warblers spend the breeding season in thickets and other
disturbed or regrowing habitats, particularly along streams and
wetlands. They are often found among willows but also live in dwarf
birch stands in the tundra, among aspen trees in the Rockies, and
along the edges of fields in the East, where you may find them among
alder or dogwood as well as orchards, blueberry bogs, and overgrown
power-line cuts. In the West they may occur up to about 9,000 feet
elevation. On their wintering grounds Yellow Warblers live in mangrove
forests, dry scrub, marshes, and forests, typically in lowlands
but occasionally up to 8,500 feet elevation.
Food
Yellow Warblers eat mostly insects that they pick from foliage or
capture on short flights or while hovering to reach leaves. Typical
prey include midges, caterpillars, beetles, leafhoppers and other
bugs, and wasps.
Nesting
NEST PLACEMENT
Yellow Warblers build their nests in the vertical fork of a bush
or small tree such as willow, hawthorn, raspberry, white cedar,
dogwood, and honeysuckle. The nest is typically within about 10
feet of the ground but occasionally up to about 40 feet.
NEST DESCRIPTION
The female builds the nest over a period of about 4 days. First
she builds a cup of grasses, bark strips, and plants such as nettles.
She places plant fibers, spiderwebs, and plant down around the outside.
The inner cup is lined with deer hair, feathers, and fibers from
cottonwood, dandelion, willow, and cattail seeds. If a cowbird lays
its eggs in a Yellow Warblers nest, the warbler often begins
building a new nest directly on top of the old one, abandoning both
its own eggs and the cowbirds.
NESTING FACTS
Clutch
Size: |
1-7 eggs |
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Number
of Broods: |
1-2
broods |
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Egg
Length: |
0.6-0.8
in (1.5-2.1 cm) |
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Egg
Width: |
0.5-0.6
in (1.2-1.6 cm) |
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Incubation
Period: |
10-13
days |
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Nestling
Period: |
9-12
days |
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Egg
Description: |
Grayish
or greenish white with dark spots. |
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Condition
at Hatching: |
Helpless,
with light-gray down, weighing about 1/20 of an ounce. |
Behavior
Yellow Warblers forage along slender branches of shrubs and small
trees, picking off insect prey as they go or briefly hovering to
get at prey on leaves. Singing males perch near the tops of the
bushes or trees in their territory. As male Yellow Warblers are
setting up territories they may perform a circle flight
in which they fly toward a neighboring male or female in a horizontal,
semicircular path. A male may also fly slowly with fast, exaggerated
wingbeats away from a female he is courting or a male he is competing
with. As these territorial encounters proceed, males start by singing
at each other; as the dispute goes on, the songs get quieter or
switch to chip notes as the males begin to chase each other. Yellow
Warblers typically form monogamous pairs that sometimes last more
than one breeding season and reform the next. Yellow Warblers defend
their nesting territories from many species, including other warbler
species, chickadees, House Wrens, blackbirds, and Eastern Kingbirds.
They may even chase off other warbler species while on their wintering
grounds. Common predators of Yellow Warbler nests include garter
snakes, red squirrels, jays, crows, raccoons, weasels, skunks, and
domestic or feral cats.
Conservation
Yellow Warblers are one of the most numerous warblers in North America
but their populations have been slowly declining, and have decreased
by 25% between 1966 and 2014, according to the North American Breeding
Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population
of 90 million with 37% spending some part of the year in the U.S.,
15% in Mexico, and 57% breeding in Canada. They rate a 6 out of
20 on the Continental Concern Score and are not on the 2014 State
of the Birds Watch List. In the western U.S. the grazing of rangelands
can degrade Yellow Warbler nesting habitat, particularly stands
of willow trees along creeks. The Brown-headed Cowbird lays its
eggs in the nests of many species including Yellow Warblers, and
this can reduce their breeding success. Like many migratory songbirds
that move at night, Yellow Warblers are at risk of collisions with
buildings; they can be attracted to and killed at tall, lighted
structures such as TV towers and tall buildings.
Backyard Tips
Yellow Warblers eat mostly insects, so they dont come to backyard
feeders. Larger yards that have small trees or are near streams
may provide nesting habitat for these birds.
Find This Bird
Listen for Yellow Warblers singing when youre in wet woods,
thickets, or streamsidestheyre one of the most commonly
heard warblers in spring and summer. Their song isnt hard
to learna tumbling series of whistles that sounds like sweet
sweet sweet Im so sweet. Look for them in the tops of willows
and other small trees.
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