How to Identify a Yellow Warbler

Warblers are small, brightly colored songbirds. A male yellow warbler is stunning lemon yellow with chestnut/orange streaks on its breast, while females are a less vibrant soft yellow color. They measure 5 inches long with a wingspan of 8 inches.

“The cool thing about yellow warblers is that, as their name implies, they’re all yellow,” says Dr. Pamela Hunt, senior biologist for avian conservation with New Hampshire Audubon. “They’re one of the more yellow birds we have. Sometimes people get them confused with goldfinches, which are also bright yellow, but goldfinches have little black caps, and black wings, and black tails. Yellow warblers are all yellow or yellow-green. No other warbler is all yellow.”

She adds that if a birder is trying to identify this species, a flash of yellow with no other color on it is a “sure thing.”

What Do Yellow Warblers Eat?

Courtesy Avery Weishaar

Warblers feed mostly on insects, such as caterpillars, beetles and leafhoppers, so they generally aren’t attracted to feeders. Instead, entice them to your garden by adding a water feature like a birdbath or, even better, a natural-looking pond with flowing water. They also may eat a few wild berries.

Pamela agrees that yellow warblers wouldn’t likely visit a feeder, but water features might bring them in. “They will certainly go to birdbaths,” she says. “If someone’s property has shrubs and isn’t too deep in the woods or borders a wetland, they’ll be there in the summer.”

Did you know: You can attract a prothonotary warbler with a birdhouse.

Yellow Warbler Song

Courtesy Chantal Taunton

Listen for the cheerful, clear notes of yellow warblers.

Pamela — and dozens upon dozens of field guides — portrays the yellow warbler’s song with a familiar description. “Their song is often described as sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet,” she says. “It always has that cadence.”

The bird may repeat its lovely song up to 10 times per minute.

Bird songs provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Learn how to identify palm warblers and pine warblers.

Yellow Warbler Nests

Courtesy Joey Reichoff

The female builds a tidy nest out of plant fibers in a low shrub and lays four to five eggs. Yellow warblers tend to like willow trees. They often nest in them, too. These nests are cup-shaped and made of grasses, bark and plant matter.

Unfortunately, yellow warblers are common targets for the brown-headed cowbird. Fortunately, yellow warblers have devised a unique — if costly — way of ensuring they don’t expend energy raising the offspring of another species.

Courtesy John Pizniur

“What yellow warblers do is that when they see a cowbird egg they go, Ha-ha, no way, dude!’” Pamela explains with a laugh. “They’ll build a whole other nest on top of it and lay a whole new set of eggs, leaving the cowbird egg and their first set of eggs underneath.”

According to Pamela, there are records of yellow warblers building six layers of nests to bury cowbird eggs.

Learn what a yellow-rumped warbler looks like.

Habitat and Range Map

Courtesy William Winkler

While many warblers spend their time at the tops of trees, yellow warblers prefer dense shrubs. Increase your chances of attracting one by providing backyard shelter, like small, low trees and bushes. These birds prefer open woods, streamsides, orchards and willow thickets in wet areas.

“They’re absent in the farthest south, but they go all the way to Alaska,” Pamela says. “They go pretty far north; they’re pretty much everywhere. They’re one of the most widespread warblers in North America.”

Range maps provided by Kaufman Field Guides, the official field guide of Birds & Blooms.

About the Expert

Pamela Hunt has worked with New Hampshire Audubon for more than 20 years. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology and zoology, and she earned her PhD from Dartmouth College in 1995. In her role as senior biologist for avian conservation, Pamela works with governmental organizations in the state to coordinate bird research and monitoring efforts.

Sources

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, yellow warbler overview
• American Bird Conservancy, yellow warbler
• Missouri Department of Conservation, yellow warbler