Common Yellowthroat

Look for

Male: a bright yellow throat and chest with a bold black bandit mask bordered in white. Olive-green back and wings. Unmistakable. Female: plain olive-yellow, no mask — often mistaken for other warblers.

Size: ~5" — small warbler.

Listen for

• Song: a loud, clear "witchety-witchety-witchety-witch!" (or "witchity-witchity-witchity") — given from a cattail or shrub. Impossibly loud for such a small bird.
• Call: a dry "tchek!"

Where in Memphis

The warbler of the marsh and the overgrown field — unique among Memphis warblers in that it breeds here and uses low, wet, shrubby cover (not tall canopy).

• Shelby Farms cattail edges and grass-shrub borders
• Wolf River wetland thickets
• Ensley Bottoms weedy edges
• Overgrown fields with brambles and wet spots

Summer breeder — arrives mid-April, gone by late October.

Behavior

• Stays low — rarely above 6 feet. Works through tangles, cattails, brambles.
• Pops up to sing from the top of a cattail or fence post, then dives back down.
• Fiercely territorial — males sing for hours on end from the same perch.
• Nests on or near the ground in dense cover.

Story

"Witchety-witch"

Universal folk-transcription of the song. Every Memphis birder has the phrase etched into memory after one season.

The accessible warbler

Most Memphis warblers are either canopy migrants (hard to see) or bottomland breeders (shy). Common Yellowthroats break the pattern — they're loud, they sit in the open, they breed here, and they use habitats anyone can walk up to. A great first warbler for new birders.

The mask and sexual selection

Studies have shown that males with larger/darker masks hold better territories, attract more mates, and father more chicks. The black mask is sexually selected.

The most-widespread Eastern warbler

Common Yellowthroats breed from Canada to Florida across essentially the entire East. Few warblers cover such a broad range.

Fun facts

• The Common Yellowthroat is sometimes called the "yellow bandit" for the black mask.
• They're one of few warblers that breed in the Deep South.
• Their scientific name Geothlypis means "ground finch" in Greek — a hint at their low-habitat preference.
• Oldest known wild Common Yellowthroat: 11+ years.