Dendroica coronata

Description

Both males and females have a yellow rump and a yellow patch on the crown and below each wing. They also have a pale supercilium, or streak above the eye, white wing bars, white tail spots, and a white throat. Males are blue-gray above and have a black breast patch. Females are more brownish and have dark streaking on the breast. The western form, or “Audubon’s” warbler is occasionally seen in the eastern US. It has a yellow or yellowish throat and lacks the pale supercilium.

Voice

Their song is a loose, slow trill that may rise or fall in pitch near the end. They have a loud, distinctive check call note.

Habitat

They can be found in coniferous and mixed forests during the breeding season, but in migration and during they winter they will occupy varied habitats of woods, thickets, brush, and bayberry scrub.

Diet

They eat insects and some fruit, such as bayberries in the winter.

Range

They breed throughout Alaska and Canada into the northeastern US. They winter mainly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Panama.

Other Useful Information

Because the yellow-rumped warbler is the only warbler that can digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles, it is able to winter farther north than other warblers.