Common Yellowthroat

Hey guys welcome back! Today’s warbler is probably the most common, widespread warbler in North America, the common yellowthroat. They are plentiful in low grassy scrubby areas, most often near water, like a pond or marsh. Both males and females are brownish-olive birds with a yellow throat, but the male has a distinctive and pretty cool looking black eye mask. Females lack the mask and can be difficult to ID especially in fall when other warblers are wearing a duller plumage.

Common yellowthroats are one of the only warblers I’ve seen in good quantities everywhere I lived (NYC, St. Louis, and NE Ohio.) In fact, each of the pics in this post was taken in one of those locations! They seem to be one of the last warblers to leave in fall, so when you don’t see them anymore, you know winter is right around the corner. Their name can be confused with the yellow-throated warbler, at least to novice birders. I had a coworker in Central Park tell me about the yellow-throated warbler they saw. I knew they meant common yellowthroat. I had to tell her to be careful when describing it, as the yellow-throated is much less common in the park and reporting to have seen one to a birder might get them excited over nothing. Simple mistake. Hey, that’s how you learn!

Doing bird walks in Central Park, I often went around the Harlem Meer, a pond at the northern end of the park. Common yellowthroats were quite, well common, in the cattails surrounding the pond. Making them a perfect beginners warbler for birders starting out as during migration, you’re almost certain to see at least one. Next up is another brightly colored bird, but this one is in the blackbird family! Baltimore oriole is up next. See you then!