Fun Common Yellowthroat Facts For Kids

The common yellowthroat warbler (family parulidae) is a new world warbler. It can be found from the south of Canada to Central Mexico in abundance.

They are small songbirds with olive back, tails, and wings and yellow on chest and throat with white bellies. The common yellowthroat males have a black mask across their neck, eyes and forehead which has a white or a brown border.

Common yellowthroat females are paler in color and do not have a mask across their faces. There are 13 species of this bird found across North America.

Their song is called a soft jib which sounds like a loud "witchity witchity witchity twitch". These North American birds from family parulidae also have low, harsh call notes.

They are found in the low ground in dense thickets and fields searching for their food. They are one of the most common warbler species in the mixed foraging flock.

Their nests are also near the ground. The subspecies include Florida, Maryland, and the tule yellowthroat.

Their genus name geothlypis comes from the Greek word 'geo', meaning earth and 'thespis', which means a kind of finch that translates into a ground bird. To avoid threats, both sexes of these North American birds skulk low in the dense underbrush.

The conservation status of these birds is of Least Concern, hence no intensive conservation efforts are required as of now.

After reading about these brown headed birds, you may also look at birds of paradise facts and barn owl facts.

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Common Yellowthroat Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a common yellowthroat?

Common yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) are a type of a small songbird, of order passeriformes, family wood-warblers. They are known for their loud singing voices. These pale colored birds can be found among different species of birds flying or migrating across North America.

What class of animal does a common yellowthroat belong to?

The common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) belongs to the birds or aves class of animals. These North American birds are recognized by their chunky round heads and medium-length slightly rounded tails.

How many common yellowthroats are there in the world?

The exact numbers of the common yellowthroat in North America are difficult to calculate. These North American birds have an extremely large population in their wide region. As per scientists, their population is stable and increasing. The population may be declining in certain regions due to habitat loss.

Where does a common yellowthroat live?

Common yellowthroats are found from Alaska to Canada and the United States. They are also found up to the southern region of Mexico.

Northern common yellowthroat birds may migrate up to Central America and West Indies. You better get hold of a bird guide and field guide along with a range map if you really want to see these birds in their full glory.

What is a common yellowthroat's habitat?

Common yellowthroat habitats are found in non-forested regions with low vegetation in damp, brushy places, briers, grasses or weeds along rural roads or farmlands. They can be found in bulrushes, cattails, willows and sedges by any water bodies like swamps, stream sides, saltwater or freshwater marshes. They also prefer similar habitats whether they are breeding or wintering.

Who do common yellowthroats live with?

Common yellowthroat warblers are normally solitary creatures but they may forage or migrate in mixed-species flocks. These birds may get together during the mating season. The males can be spotted easily whereas the females are always hidden under the thickets or forges and rarely seen in the open.

How long does a common yellowthroat live?

Common yellowthroats live for ten to 11 years. These birds may live longer in captivity or in protected areas like farmlands.

How do they reproduce?

Common yellowthroat females lays eggs between March and June and incubate these eggs for ten to 12 days. Each clutch ranges between three to five eggs.

The eggs are white or cream in color with speckles in black, gray, or brown colors at the large end. This bird species makes a sturdy cup-shaped nest with grass, leaves and weed stems.

These nests are located in the ground and covered with shrubbery. Male and female common yellowthroats both tend to the common yellowthroat juvenile, while the female incubates the eggs.

The young ones leave the nest after eight to ten days. Common yellowthroats are polygynous, where the males are territorial and attract the females with their song and will follow these prospective mates around, showing themselves off to them.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status for common yellowthroat species is of the Least Concern as they are found in abundance in their regions. The population is also said to be stable and increasing. Still, proper attention has to be paid to their population so that any required conservation efforts could be initiated as soon as possible.

Common Yellowthroat Fun Facts

What do common yellowthroats look like?

Common yellowthroats look like wren wood-warblers with upturned tails. The male common yellowthroats have an olive green color on their backside with a black mask on their face, which has bluish, brownish or a white border on the top. Birds of this species have a white underbelly with a pale yellow throat, breast, chin and under tail.

They have pinkish colored legs and black colored beaks. The females look similar but paler in tone and no facial mask. Juvenile common yellowthroats are dull brown in color.

How cute are they?

Common yellowthroats are cute colorful songbirds with a loud singing voice, and males have a distinctive facial mask. Their handsome patterns of black and white make them absolutely cute birds.

How do they communicate?

This bird species is known to not sing while foraging for food, but otherwise the common yellowthroat birds sing a lot. Common yellowthroat birds are known to make a variety of common yellowthroat calls ranging from mating calls to alarm calls. They may not be seen, but they can be heard for sure.

How big is a common yellowthroat?

Common yellowthroat birds are 4.5-5.5 in (11-13 cm) in size. This species belongs to the new world warbler, which are all small songbirds.

How fast can a common yellowthroat fly?

Common yellowthroats are not considered fliers as they prefer to be lower on the ground. This warbler species will only fly when trying to find another perch to settle on. They make a sound like "chack chack" while flying. While migrating, this species flies during the night.

How much does a common yellowthroat weigh?

Common yellowthroats weigh between 0.01-0.03 lb (0.25-0.5 oz). These warblers are tiny birds in length and size.

What are the male and female names of the species?

Common yellowthroats do not have any specific name for the male and female species. These warblers are known as makes and females respectively.

What would you call a baby common yellowthroat?

Baby common yellowthroats are called young warblers, juvenile warblers or juvenile common yellowthroats.

What do they eat?

Warblers skulk on the ground, foraging for food. This species feeds on small dragonflies, grasshoppers, mayflies, damselflies, grubs, beetles, caterpillars, cankerworms, flies, moths, aphids, ants, spiders, and leafhoppers. These warblers sometimes feed on seeds too.

Are they dangerous?

Common yellowthroats are not dangerous. They may scold an intruder or predator and immediately hide in shrubs, but they are not dangerous. Secretive males are known as bandits.

Would they make a good pet?

If you love singing birds, then you’ll definitely love these common yellowthroats. They can be found in farmlands where they can forage for their favorite insects and sing to their hearts content.

Did you know...

Common yellowthroats are secretive in their life, especially about their nests. They never fly directly towards it. It will fly close by and then walk towards it, so as to not attract predators.

There are 13 species of common yellowthroat, which mainly have the same differentiation of the male facial pattern and the brightness of yellow in the underparts. The southwestern common yellowthroat is the brightest and yellowest.

Female yellowthroats prefer to mate with males that have larger face masks.

The migration pattern of the common yellowthroat can be studied at Appledore Island in Maine.

What does a common yellowthroat nest look like?

Common yellowthroats make their nests low on the ground, which is made using tussocks of briars, grass, weeds, or shrubs in the marshy lands, cattails, bulrushes, and sedges. They are bulky, open cup-shaped and are made by the females.

There is a roof attached to the rim loosely made of grass stems, weeds, dead leaves, sedges, ferns, barks and lined with fine grass, bark fiber and hair.

What does a common yellowthroat sound like?

The male common yellowthroat sings frequently during the summers and can sing as many as 125 songs per hour. Both the male and female make a strong "chuck" like noise when they feel endangered. Females call out a fast series of chirping notes when they are ready to mate.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds including secretary bird, or great green macaw.

You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one of our common yellowthroat coloring pages.

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