Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)

Special Segments Butterflies of North America Conifers of North America Eastern Birds List of N.A. Insects Home Eastern Wildflowers General Topics Natural History Ecology Family Environment Evolution Home Education Home Conservation Geophysics Paleontology Commercial Organizations

Purchase

A Field Guide to Warblers of North America (The Peterson Field Guide Series). by Kimball L. Garrett, Jon L. Dunn, Cindy House (Illustrator)

Warblers of Eastern North America

Color Photograph: U.S. National Parks Service

Recording by John R. Sauer, U.S. Geological Survey

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)

Identification: 4.75 inches from tip of bill to tip of tail.

Breeding Male: The breeding male has a gray-blue back with black streaks. The head has a yellow cap and a conspicuous black patch through the eye. The neck is white (in eastern and northern populations) or yellow (in western and montane regions). The breast is white with black on the breast and a conspicuous yellow patch at the side under the wing. A yellow patch is found on the rump. The underside of the tail has round, white patches. Strong white wing bars are present.

Female: The female is similar to male, but has a brown instead of a gray-blue back. The black patch through the eye is absent as is the extensive black feathering of the breast. The underside of the tail has round, white patches. Strong white wing bars are present.

Fall Male and Female:  The fall male and female are similar to the breeding female.

Immature: The immature is basically the same as the female, but the yellow head cap and the lateral yellow patches are usually absent.

Similar Species: The breeding male is distinctive. There are two other species with constrasting yellow patches on the rumps; the Magnolia Warbler and the Cape May Warbler. The breeding males of these two species have yellow breasts, throats, and bellies, not white. The female has a yellow, lateral patch and a white breast and belly. The bellies of the Magnolia Warbler and Cape May Warbler are yellowish and the lateral yellow patches are absent. The immature of the Magnolia Warbler is yellow. The immature of the Cape May Warbler is very similar to that of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, but the yellow rump patch is less conspicuous and the back is not as strongly streaked with black.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Yellow-rumped Warbler has the widest breeding distribution of any North American Warbler. The species occurs throughout Canada except of the Arctic tundra and southward throughout most of the western United States. In the east the species' breeding range is found in the northeastern United States, and southward into the Appalachian Mountains.

Overwintering Range: The species overwinters in the southern United States and southward into the America tropics.

Habitat: The Yellow-rumped Warbler breeds in a variety of coniferous and deciduous woods. During migration the species can be seen just about anywhere there are trees.

Food: Insects during the breeding season, but feeds on various berries during the winter.

Behavior: The song is a soft, buzzy warble.

Reproduction: The nest is large and constructed of twigs, roots, and grass lined with hair and feathers. The nest is sited in a conifer. The clutch consists of 4 to 5 white eggs spotted with brown. Incubation runs between 12 to 13 days and the incubation time between hatching and fledging is between 10 and 12 days.

Notes: Until recently the Yellow-rumped Warpler was considered to be two bird species, the Myrtle Warbler (east and north) and Audubon's Warbler from the west. However the two "species" were found to hybridize freely and are now considered to be a single species. The most significant difference between the two populations is the breeding male's yellow throat in the "Audubon's Warbler" and the white throat of the "Myrtle Warbler". The Yellow-throated Warbler is the only warbler species wintering north of the southern parts of the United States.