Come on out and try to find them as they flutter from tree to tree as they forage! Yellow-rumped Warblers winter across much of the central and southeastern United States and High Island is no exception! Many Yellow-rumped Warblers can be found in small groups throughout our sanctuaries. They leave the nest at 10-12 days and can usually fly short distances 2-3 days later. The young will hatch at around 12-13 days and be fed by both adults. The female will lay between 4-5 eggs and will usually be the one incubating them. It is lined with hair and feathers and is curved over so that it partly covers the eggs. The nest is built by the female and is an open cup made of bark fibers, weeds, twigs and roots. Sometimes nest can be found in a deciduous tree or in a fork where a branch meets a trunk. The pair will place their nest approximately 4-50’ above ground on a horizontal branch away from the trunk of a conifer. When summer comes and courtship begins the male will accompany the female everywhere, calling as he fluffs up his side feathers and raises his wings and colorful crown feathers. In the winter, because they can digest the wax in berries, they can eat berries of bayberry, juniper, wax myrtle and poison ivy. The diet mainly consists of insects and berries. In the wall and winter they prefer open woods and shrubby habitats like coastal vegetation, parks and residential areas. In Summer, Yellow-rumped Warblers can be found in open coniferous forests and edges and sometimes deciduous forests. Where the two subspecies’ breeding ranges overlap, like the Canadian Rockies, intermediate forms can occur. The female Audubon’s also lacks the dark ear patch that can be found on the Myrtle. The wings of the male Audubon’s Warbler is more white than that of the Myrtle Warbler.
One difference between these two subspecies is that the Audubon’s throat is yellow, while the Myrtle’s throat is white. There are two distinct subspecies of the Yellow-rumped Warbler: the Myrtle Warbler, which can be found in the eastern US and Canada’s boreal forest, and the Audubon’s Warbler, which is found in the western US in the more mountainous regions. Currently, during the winter, both sexes are a paler brown with a bright yellow rump and some yellow on the sides. The males are shaded while the females are more dull and may even have some brown.
In the summer, both male and females are gray with some white in the wings and yellow on the face, sides, and rump. They have a large head, sturdy bill and a long, narrow tail. Profile by Gislaine Peters: The Yellow-rumped Warbler is fairly large for a warbler and is about the size of a Black-capped Chickadee. While their spring color may be more celebrated by bird photographers, there is something to be said for the subtle beauty they exhibit in fall.Seasonal Occurrence: Abundant mid-October through early April. It is not uncommon for them to bully larger birds like Black Phoebes for the best habitat set-up. Look for these large (for warblers) energetic birds foraging in shrubs and catching insects in air. The bird above and below (male and female respectively) illustrate what to look for - the duller color these birds wear during this non-breeding season. Seeing large flocks this time of year is not unusual, the species land here every fall, but it is still something to behold. On one single day at the UCLA Williams Andrews Clark Library, a birder scoped 50 different "butter butts." Another birder saw 125 in one hiking trip in Franklin Canyon Park! Audubon California's Starr Ranch Sanctuary are also having a mellow yellow kind of month. These sweet, slightly hyperactive birds are a welcome sight for residents of Orange County and Los Angeles. Yellow-rumped Warblers are filling the backyards, parks, and campuses of Southern California.
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