Here’s a shot of a male common yellowthroat. They are a common warbler that nests throughout most of the U.S. and into Canada. They migrate south in the fall, but in my observations, stick with us a little longer than many of the warblers.
Common yellowthroats are one of most familiar warblers we see in New England. While we are seeing many warblers pass through this time of year on their way south, yellowthroats remain one of the more common sightings. The male (pictured above) is easy to recognize with his black mask, but the female is a little more tricky, particularly in the fall when warblers are notoriously difficult to ID. Here are a few more shots to distinguish the female yellowthroat from other warblers passing through. Click here for a recent For the Birds column on yellowthroats.
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Sometimes the residual birds get unduly forgotten when a bird walk features a highlight species. In other words, the other solid bird sightings get pushed to the back of the memory bank. Then, sometime after the excitement of the highlight species fades, be it hours, days or weeks, the other birds come back to you.
This happened to me the other week when a pair of male indigo buntings highlighted an evening walk. It had been a while since I had seen buntings, and I became singularly focused on them when recounting the walk.
As I looked through the photos of that walk, I was reminded of some of the other birds I had seen. Before I took untold numbers of photos of the bright blue indigo buntings, I had snapped a few photos of a common yellowthroat pair. I had completely forgotten about those birds until I started looking through the photos.
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A Day on Merganser Lake
The common yellowthroat is one of the more common warblers we see throughout New England. Thankfully, we get to see them for several months out of the year as they nest throughout the region. They are often heard singing their “witchety-witchety-witchety” song, but it is usually tough to find them in the thick brush in which they skulk.
Yesterday, I featured the American redstart in this series. Today, it’s another warbler without the word “warbler” in its name. The common yellowthroat is one of the more commonly seen warblers in New England. They breed throughout the region and are therefore seen from late April into the fall. Pictured is a male with its bandit-like eye mask. Females are a duller yellow and lack the distinctive markings of the male.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A common yellowthroat sings from a perch in Brookfield, Conn., during spring 2017.
I posted one shot of this common yellowthroat early this spring. Never had time to edit the other photos until now.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A common yellowthroat sings from a perch in Brookfield, Conn., during spring 2017.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A common yellowthroat sings from a branch at Happy Landings in Brookfield in spring 2017.
While looking for bobolinks (more on those guys later) at Happy Landings in Brookfield, Conn., the other day, this common yellowthroat made a quick appearance. As yellowthroats often do, it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. It sang a quick tune “witchity, witchity, witchity” and ducked back into the brush.
I’ll take a quick sighting over no sighting at all any day.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Common Yellowthroat perches on a branch at Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods on Sunday, May 11, 2014.
Here’s another warbler photo taken this weekend at Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods in Darien.
Last week I had a post with several warbler species included. The Common Yellowthroat was not included in that post, but I found a fairly cooperative one this weekend. Yellowthroats can be tricky to photograph because they are usually hidden among thick brush, often near wetlands.
On Saturday, I led a bird walk with a great group of people and we saw 10 warbler species, in addition to several other types of birds, such as vireos, egrets and thrushes. The warbler season in New England is still in full swing. Let me know what you’re seeing out there, send photos and sightings to bozclark@earthlink.net
Birds of New England.com 