Yellow-rumped Warbler

Dendroica coronataOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: YRWA Scientific Name: DENCOR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178891

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Overview

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Medium warbler, dark-streaked, blue-gray upperparts, yellow rump. White throat and belly, black breast. The 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.

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.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

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 white.

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.

Bird Term Glossary

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.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

● Song: "chek"

● Foraging & Feeding: Yellow-rumped Warbler: Feeds mainly on insects in the summer and on berries and fruits in the winter, particularly wax-coated berries of bayberries and wax myrtles; unique gastrointestinal traits allow it to subsist on this unusual food source.

● Breeding & nesting: Yellow-rumped Warbler: Three to five brown and gray marked, white to creamy white eggs are laid in a bulky nest made of twigs, rootlets, and grass, lined with hair and feathers, and built in a conifer. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Yellow-rumped Warbler: Palm and Magnolia warblers are not as bright and contrasting; also, Palm Warbler has yellow undertail coverts and constantly pumps tail.

Flight Pattern

Rapid flight with quick wing strokes.

● Range & 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.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationAbundant

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

Shoulder

The short feathers overlying the median secondary coverts on the top of the wing. They are located near the back and can be seen as the “first row” of feathers on the birds wing. They are also called marginal coverts and lesser secondary coverts.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America