Northern Yellow Warbler
Setophaga aestiva · New World Warblers
Banding codeYEWA
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 5 in long.
2Color pattern
- Egg-yolk yellow all over
- Males have rusty streaks on the breast
- Beady black eye on a plain face
3Habitat & season
Willows and cottonwoods along streams
In northern Utah: summer.
Seen most often in May and June.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
A bright, fast, sweet song.
“sweet-sweet-sweet, I'm so sweet!”
iNat 210074356 by Jacqueline Raiford · Carroll Pkwy, Frederick, MD, US · CC BY
Know it
- Its song is remembered as 'sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet.'
- When a cowbird lays an egg in its nest, it often builds a new floor on top, burying the egg.
- The male's yellow breast is streaked with rusty red.
- Many field guides still list it simply as Yellow Warbler; eBird and All About Birds now call it Northern Yellow Warbler.
Often confused with
Western Tanager
Lesser Goldfinch- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Wilson's Warbler
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The American yellow warbler, also known as the northern yellow warbler, is a New World warbler. It is a widespread migratory species in the diverse genus Setophaga, that breeds in most parts of North America. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the non-migratory mangrove warbler.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0