BPQ Bird of the Month

Yellow Warblers migrate almost as soon as they are finished breeding. They often leave in early July and are gone by August. The Yellow Warbler winters from Baja California to Central Peru. They return to the Gulf coast in mid April. We see them here in Canada in May.

Although the Yellow Warbler is one of our more familiar warblers, their numbers have declined in some areas. The loss of river habitat in the southwest as well as parasitism by cowbirds has caused some decline.

The Yellow Warbler’s habitat is bushes, swamp edges, streams and gardens. Their nest is attractive, made up of fluffy fibers such as milkweed, fine grasses and bark strips. It sometimes can be easy to see as it is usually placed from 3 to 10 feet from the ground. Many yellow warbler nests are parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds. That means that cowbirds often lay their eggs in the Yellow Warbler’s nest rather than build a nest of their own. Many Yellow Warblers recognize cowbird eggs and either abandon the nest or build another nest on top of the old one. Nests with up to six layers of nests have been found.

The Yellow Warbler’s diet is almost entirely made up of insects and it has a sharp pointy beak that is perfect for catching them. The male feeds the female while she sits on the eggs and the eggs hatch in about 10 days. Both parents feed the young once they have hatched and in another 10 days the young are feathered and ready to leave the nest. For the first two or three days, the young perch near the nest and the adults continue to feed them insects. After that time, the young stay in the vicinity of the nest but must find food on their own.
Click here to download Yellow Warbler coloring page ywar-coloring-page

The Yellow Warbler has the most widespread breeding range of the wood warblers. It ranges from Alaska and across northern Canada to the southern United States.

The male is bright yellow with rusty breast streaks. The female and immature birds are a duller yellow without the chestnut breast streaks. No other warbler is so completely yellow and it is the only yellow-breasted warbler with yellow tail spots.

The Yellow Warbler’s song is, “Sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet,” and it frequently pumps its tail up and down. Click the following link to listen to the song of the Yellow Warbler: http://www.pqspb.org/downloads/education/YWAR.mp3