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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and Feeding

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

Vocalization

Common Yellowthroat: Song is a loud, fast "witchity-witchity-witchity-witchity-wit" or "which-is-it, which-is-it, which-is-it." Call is a sharp chip.

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.