stokes
Main Year-round Clues
- Bright yellow rump. Yellow patch on sides, in front of wings.
- Streaked on breast and flanks.
- Thin white eyebrow.
- Most abundant warbler during fall migration and in winter.
Additional Clues
- Spring Male: Yellow patch on crown, white throat, black mask. Blue-gray back.
- Spring Female: Similar to male but yellow crown patch reduced, mask charcoal to brownish. Back is brownish.
- Fall Adults and Immatures: Similar to spring female but washed with more brown. Yellow on sides can be absent on imm. females.
Undertail Pattern
Undertail coverts white; has obvious white tail spots.
Behaviour and Habitat
In Winter, frequents brush edges, especially near berries, such as bayberry and wax myrtle. In winter, often eats berries and may come to feeders for suet and fruit. Breeds in deciduous or mixed forests.
Voice
Song a weak musical trill. Call a sharp "check."
Conservation Status
The "Myrtle" Yellow-rump has significantly increases over the last 30 years. The flexibility of this species in terms of breeding habitat and foods that it will eat has helped it out.
Field Marks, Behaviour, Etc.
- Bold eye-ring : No
- Eyebrow : Yes
- Plain yellow face : No
- Wingbar(s) : Yes
- Yellow rump : Yes
- Bobs tail : No
- Waves tail : No
- Spreads tail : No
- Walks rather than hops when on ground : No
- Forages on Tree Trunks : No *
- Flycatches : Yes
- Where it nests : In tree, 10-20 feet up
- Spring migration timing : Early, begins before April 20
- Migration routes : Trans-Gulf, Circum-Gulf, and Florida/West Indies
- Roughly one adult plumage for both sexes all year : No
- Two adult plumages (male and female different but stay relatively the same throughout year) : No
- Two adult plumages (male and female look alike, but their spring and fall plumages are different : No
- Four adult plumages (male and female different, and both change from one season to the next) : Yes
* = I saw a Myrtle Warbler cling to the trunk of a tree and lap up sap, leaking from a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker well.
peterson warbler guide
5.25" long
All show bright yellow rump and white tail spots. "Myrtle" Warbler breeds in boreal regions.
Dark cheek region bordered above by pale eyebrow and below and behind by extension of he white or creamy throat.
Spring adult male : Cheeks black, bordered above by white broken eyebrow, below by white throat. Black may form patch on chest, sides, or be broken into streaks. Gray back. First spring males similar.
Spring adult female : Cheeks brownish to slaty. Back washed with brown. Black of underparts appears as long row of spots.
Fall adult male : Upperparts with gray tint and broad black streaks, veiled with brown. Distinct brown cheeks with limited black in some. Uppertail coverts blue-gray with large black centers.
First fale male : Told from fall adult male by finer black, breast, and flank spotting, and lack of any gray tones on upperparts, except gray fringed uppertail coverts. Fall adult females similar.
First fall female : Dullest plumage, rich brown above, buffy below. Streaking above and below duller.
Juvenile : Heavily streaked above and below and no yellow on rump.
Yellow-rumps winter in large numbers farther north than any other warbler. In the colder seasons at northern latitudes, they are often the only warbler present. The relatively large size, bright yellow rump patch, and white tail corners are obvious in all plumages, but the species' geographic variability and striking seasonal plumage change produce a confusing variety of plumages.
