Connecticut Audubon Bird Finder for June 13: Common Yellowthroat
Common Yellowthroat
Geothlypis trichas
This week’s Bird Finder was written by Alexander Brash, president of Connecticut Audubon Society
What it looks/sounds like: The well-marked males have a bright yellow throat, and are dramatically masked like a thief, while the female and young are bright but non-descript yellowish warblers. That is to say, they have no distinct eye-rings, bars, stripes, or other significant marks. The Yellowthroat’s song is a loud “witchity – witchity – witchity,” while more usually they communicate among themselves in the bushes with clear “chip” calls.
Where to find it: The Common Yellowthroat is one of the most ubiquitous warblers in Connecticut, and found in every township in the state. The small and pugnacious warbler is found in dense tangles, mostly in the brushy fringes along shorelines, ponds and fields.
How to find it: Look for Yellowthroats pretty much near any large brushy area, usually at least a half acre in size and preferably near water. During the nesting season they respond well to “pishing,” sharp “chips,” and even kissing sounds.
Interesting facts: After studying them for four years during college, I noted some really interesting aspects of their life. The males have a lovely territorial flight, where like a woodcock they fly up from their tangle, and when forty-five feet or so in the air, they both sing and vibrate their wings as they declare their space. They have a great preference for small leaf-rolling moths, and in my study that was about all they ate. Finally, they are adaptively polygynous. Meaning that after building a nest and mating with one female, while the first female is incubating the eggs, if they could find a second available female, they would mate with her too. Once, the first nest hatched though, they pretty much focused on raising those young, and left the second brood to the second female to raise largely (though not entirely) on her own.
Conservation status: Least concern.
Connecticut Audubon Bird Finder is edited by Tom Andersen.
Photos by Teddy Llovet, top, and Dick Daniels, Carolinabirds.org.
