YELLOW WARBLER
YELLOW WARBLER – (Setophaga petechia) – (See images below)
DESCRIPTION: The Yellow Warbler males are bright yellow with reddish brown streaks on their under parts. The eyes are black. The bill is dark grey, and the legs and feet are beige or pinkish grey. Females are also yellow, but not as intensely. The yellow warbler is around 12 cm (5 inches) long. There are around 35 subspecies.
VOICE: https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Setophaga-aestiva – Warblers are thus called thanks to their generally melodious songs.
NAME: The English name ‘Warbler’ means ‘to sing with trills and quavers’. The genus Latin name ‘Setophaga’ means ‘to eat moths’, in reference to the bird’s diet, and the species name ‘petechia’ means a ‘red spot’, in reference to the plumage streaks.
HABITAT: Forests near wetlands.
DIET: Insects such as caterpillars, moth, mosquitoes, etc., also spiders and some berries.
NESTING: The nest is built in a tree and is a solid cup-like structure. (see photo below). It is frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird. Since the warbler can’t remove the alien egg, it will build another nest on top of the first one. Cases have been observed with several such nests on top of each other. An average of four light green eggs are laid, which are incubated by the female. Both parents feed the chicks.
DISTRIBUTION: Around half of the yellow warbler population breeds in Canada. The Yellow warbler breeds over a vast area of Canada and Alaska (up to the tree line )and the contiguous USA. It migrates to Central America and the northern part of South America for the winter.
Distribution map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_yellow_warbler#/media/File:Dendroica_petechia_map.svg
ON PEI:Yellow warblers breed on Prince Edward Island and are very common during spring and summer.
CONSERVATION: The yellow warbler is widespread and common, and is not considered at risk at the present time.
SIMILAR SPECIES: Wilson’s Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler
REFERENCES: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow_Warbler/id
http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/yellow_warbler
https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/343/_/Yellow_Warbler.aspx
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-warbler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_yellow_warbler
https://www.borealbirds.org/bird/yellow-warbler
https://www.mba-aom.ca/jsp/toc.jsp (Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas)
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/yellow-warbler (Missouri Department of Conservation)
DESCRIPTION: The Yellow Warbler males are bright yellow with reddish brown streaks on their under parts. The eyes are black. The bill is dark grey, and the legs and feet are beige or pinkish grey. Females are also yellow, but not as intensely. The yellow warbler is around 12 cm (5 inches) long. There are around 35 subspecies.
VOICE: https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Setophaga-aestiva – Warblers are thus called thanks to their generally melodious songs.
NAME: The English name ‘Warbler’ means ‘to sing with trills and quavers’. The genus Latin name ‘Setophaga’ means ‘to eat moths’, in reference to the bird’s diet, and the species name ‘petechia’ means a ‘red spot’, in reference to the plumage streaks.
HABITAT: Forests near wetlands.
DIET: Insects such as caterpillars, moth, mosquitoes, etc., also spiders and some berries.
NESTING: The nest is built in a tree and is a solid cup-like structure. (see photo below). It is frequently parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird. Since the warbler can’t remove the alien egg, it will build another nest on top of the first one. Cases have been observed with several such nests on top of each other. An average of four light green eggs are laid, which are incubated by the female. Both parents feed the chicks.
DISTRIBUTION: Around half of the yellow warbler population breeds in Canada. The Yellow warbler breeds over a vast area of Canada and Alaska (up to the tree line )and the contiguous USA. It migrates to Central America and the northern part of South America for the winter.
Distribution map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_yellow_warbler#/media/File:Dendroica_petechia_map.svg
ON PEI:Yellow warblers breed on Prince Edward Island and are very common during spring and summer.
CONSERVATION: The yellow warbler is widespread and common, and is not considered at risk at the present time.
SIMILAR SPECIES: Wilson’s Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler
REFERENCES: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow_Warbler/id
http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/yellow_warbler
https://identify.whatbird.com/obj/343/_/Yellow_Warbler.aspx
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-warbler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_yellow_warbler
https://www.borealbirds.org/bird/yellow-warbler
https://www.mba-aom.ca/jsp/toc.jsp (Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas)
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/yellow-warbler (Missouri Department of Conservation)
 |
| Yellow warbler male, Matt Beardsley |
 |
| Yellow warbler close up, Roberta Palmer |
 |
| Yellow warbler pair, Roberta Palmer |
 |
| Yellow warbler female, Matt Beardsley |
 |
| Yellow warbler nest with eggs, USFWS |