Yellow-rumped Warbler

Dendroica coronata

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family PARULIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Habitat
6. Food
7. Behavior
8. Reproduction
9. Conservation Status
10. Other Names

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America. Although other warblers have yellow rumps, none are as conspicuous as consistently as this species.

Cool Facts

• The Yellow-rumped Warbler is the only warbler able to digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles. Its ability to use these fruits allows it to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland.

• The Myrtle and Audubon's forms were once considered different species.

Description

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 19-23 cm (7-9 in)
• Weight: 12-13 g (0.42-0.46 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Bright yellow rump in all plumages.
• Yellow patches on sides of chest.
• Streaks on sides of chest.
• Pale throat; white in the widespread "Myrtle" form, or yellow in the western "Audubon's" form.

• White wingbars.
• White tail spots.
• White crescents above and below eye.

Sex Differences

Female similar to male but duller and without black markings.

Male

Myrtle in breeding (Alternate) plumage: Gray above with black streaks on back. Yellow crown patch. Black cheeks. White throat, extending slightly onto sides of neck. Black breast, streaked with white; black extending down sides. Yellow patches on sides. White belly and under tail. White line above eye, extending to bill as line or spot. White crescent below eye; white crescent above eye hard to see in eyestripe. Yellow rump. Two broad white wingbars. White spots on outer two or three tail feathers.
Non-breeding (Basic) plumage: Same overall pattern, but body is brownish gray and the black patches on the ear coverts and the breast are lacking. Center of chest is usually unstreaked. Eyestripe less obvious, eye crescents more obvious above and below eye.
Audubon's breeding (Alternate) plumage: Similar to Myrtle, except throat is yellow and does not extend onto sides of neck, shows no white stripe above or in front of the eye, has white crescents obvious above and below eye, cheeks gray not black and not contrasting with crown, more black on chest, more extensive white in wing (may appear as white patch and not wingbars), and more tail feathers with white spots (four or five outer feathers), although the spots are smaller. Yellow rump.
Audubon's nonbreeding plumage: Head, cheeks, and neck brownish gray. Throat bright yellow. Breast black with buff. Yellow patches on sides. Flanks with black streaks, somewhat covered with whitish. Two white wingbars. Yellow rump.

Female

Myrtle in breeding (Alternate) plumage: Cheek dark, but gray or brown instead of black. Light line above and in front of eye. Back brown with black streaks. White throat, extending up sides of neck. Chest streaked dark and white, dark extending down sides. Yellow patches on sides. Belly and undertail white. Yellow rump.
Myrtle nonbreeding (Basic) plumage: Olive brown on back with dark streaks. Streaking on back and sides less sharp.
Audubon's breeding (Alternate) plumage: Head, cheek, and neck gray to brownish gray. Throat pale to bright yellow, color not extending onto sides of neck. Breast gray with dark streaks. Small yellow patch on sides. Flanks buff with dark streaking. Yellow rump.
Audubon's nonbreeding (Basic) plumage: Grayish brown on upperparts. Black streaking on back somewhat covered with brown. Gray and buff chest dully streaked. Throat yellow to white. Yellow rump.

Immature

Juvenile gray and extensively streaked; resembles Pine Siskin. Rump dull white streaked with dark, not yellow.
Myrtle: Immature male similar to fall adult female. Immature female brownish. Fine dark streaks on back. Eyestripe inconspicuous. Cheek brown and not contrasting with crown or neck. Throat buffy, with pale extending up onto sides of neck. Sides and flanks buffy with thin brownish streaking. Yellow on sides reduced or lacking. Wingbars and tail spots reduced. Yellow rump.
Audubon's: Immature male similar to fall adult female. Immature female brown. Back streaking thin and indistinct. Throat pale yellow to whitish; does not extend up on sides of neck. Breast brown with indistinct streaking. Yellow patch on sides reduced or absent. Tan wingbars.

Sound

Song a slow musical trill, usually rising or falling at the end. Call note a distinctive "chek."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in coniferous forests from Alaska and Canada, southward to the northern United States and southward in the western mountains through Mexico to Guatemala. "Myrtle" form breeds in coniferous forests from Alaska through Canada and to the northern United States from Minnesota to Maine and southward to Pennsylvania and West Virginia. "Audubon's" form breeds in western North America from British Columbia and Alberta southward to California and western Texas. Also in Mexico and Guatemala.

Winter Range

Myrtle winters primarily along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, northward to Massachusetts. Also locally in interior eastern United States, along the Pacific Coast of the United States, and in Mexico, Caribbean, and Central America. Audubon's winters from extreme southwestern British Columbia southward through California, and in southwestern states to western Texas, southward through Mexico.

Habitat

• Breeds in mature coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous woodlands.
• Winters in open areas along woodland edge, second growth, dunes, marshes, and residential areas.

Food

Insects and some fruit, especially bayberries in winter.

Behavior

Foraging

Uses a wide variety of foraging methods, including flycatching, gleaning, and hovering. Occasionally comes to bird feeders. Commonly in mixed species flocks.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest an open cup of twigs, pine needles, and grasses interwoven with rootlets, hair, mosses, and lichens, lined with finer hair and feathers. Placed on horizontal branch of conifer.

Egg Description

White with dark speckles and spots concentrated around the large end.

Clutch Size

Usually 3-5 eggs. Range: 1-6.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse down.

Conservation Status

Populations stable or increasing in most areas.

Other Names

Paruline à croupion jaune (French)
Chipe coronada (Spanish)
Myrtle Warbler, Audubon's Warbler (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Hunt, P. D., and D. J. Flaspohler. 1998. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata). In The Birds of North America, No. 376 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
2. Dunn, J. L., and Garrett, K. L. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.