Yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata)
This week Crawlies takes wing as we meet a feathered friend with arguably one of the most fun to say common names. Meet the yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata).
Yellow-rumped are among the most common warblers in North America. However, in Oregon we have an uncommon embarrassment of yellow-rumped riches.
There are two main forms of yellow-rumped: Audubon’s with their bright yellow throats (as well as rumps!) and myrtle with their more subdued colors and creamy throats.
Males of both forms sport a lemony yellow crown; the second part of their binomial name “coronata” means “crown.”
In general, Audubon’s can be found in the West and myrtle in the East. Unless, of course, you live in our area of Oregon where we have both.
We even get mixed flocks of Audubon’s and myrtles during spring and fall migration.
But wait! There’s more! Not only do we get both forms, but we get yellow-rumped year-round whereas most of North America only gets them in either summer or winter.
Yellow-rumped know a good place to live when they see it and they stay put.
Our pictured yellow-rumped are (almost) all sporting their breeding colors, but in winter they are much more subdued. The Audubon’s (both male and female) will still have a yellow rump and a yellow chin, but a paler shade of yellow.
Because we get both forms year-round juveniles can be tricky to identify their first fall. Young Audubon’s look a lot like mature female myrtles (see center photo).
Fun fact: Audubon’s and myrtles used to be considered two different species, and there are studies ongoing which may split them back from different forms of a single species, to two separate species again.
In the Rogue Valley you’re most likely to spot yellow-rumped in spring, fall and winter. They tend to move higher into the Cascades to breed. However, I did have them breed in my yard in Trail, so never say never.
You can catch large flocks of them chomping down on insects in the treetops on sunny days immediately following rainy days in spring. Those spring weather shifts cause insects to hatch out and yellow-rumped are there to take advantage of the feast.
In winter you can woo yellow-rumped into your yard with some nice suet. Because their diet consists mainly of arthropods, it’s harder for them to find food during the colder months.
They get creative, digging in the cracks of tree bark and snagging arthropods out of spiders’ webs, but that’s a lot of work and they love a good easy meal of suet and sometimes will even eat seeds.
Yellow-rumped can winter farther north than other warblers because they can also digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles (other bird species cannot).
When it comes to winter foraging, yellow-rumped will even hang out with non-warblers such as chickadees for the protection of group foraging.
During breeding season, yellow-rumped aren’t social. Mated pairs will hang out only with each other, and then with their newly fledged young. During the rest of the year, they love a good flock.
Fun fact: There are even “warbler hierarchies.” Yellow-rumped defer to palm, magnolia and black-throated green warblers on mutual feeding grounds but will lord it over pine and Blackburn warblers.
That said, yellow-rumped get along very well – and I mean very well – with some other warbler species. There are many recorded sightings and photos of yellow-rumped hybrids.
They’ve been known to mate/hybridize with Cape May, magnolia, palm, yellow-throated, black-throated and hermit warblers as well as a few other species. Audubon’s and myrtles will also mix and mingle.
Yellow-rumped warblers are a fun bird to watch in winter for their POP of booty color as well as their aerial antics flying out from and back to the treetops to hunt winter aquatic insects like winter stoneflies.
The easiest way to see them in winter is to first hear them. They have a very distinct call, and they use it a lot when foraging.
You can listen to the “Audubon’s chip calls” at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/sounds and you’ll be ready to spot them any time of year.