Beak of the Week – Yellow-rumped Warbler

Spring is arriving soon, and that means it’s time to brush up on your warblers! If you’re like me and can’t wait to see them, then you’re in luck—several warbler species that overwinter in the Upper Texas Coast can be seen right now.

The focus for this week is the most common warbler in February, and one of my favorites: the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Most Yellow-rumped Warblers are in their nonbreeding plumage right now, easily identifiable by their yellow rump and flanks. In this plumage, they are quite brown overall, but soon they will molt into their breeding plumage, showing contrasting streaks of black, white, and gray. You can spot these birds by listening for their sharp “chek” call coming from the treetops.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are very opportunistic when it comes to feeding. They are primarily found gleaning in the canopy for insects or eating berries during cold winters when there are fewer bugs. In these cold conditions, they can also get creative and feed on sap from sapsucker holes in trees! Another feeding behavior, more commonly seen in tropical birds, involves foraging for sap excreted by sap-eating insects. All of these methods of finding food go a long way in helping them survive the winter.

These cute and plentiful warblers sing all throughout the summer, when they can be found breeding in the mid-elevation forests of the Western U.S. and Appalachian Mountains, as well as the boreal forest up north. There, you can find them nesting high in the conifer trees, with clutches of 1 to 6 eggs.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are currently listed by the IUCN as a species of “Least Concern” for conservation. In fact, they are one of the most abundant bird species in North America. This means they can almost always be found in forested Houston Audubon bird sanctuaries and are an excellent species to spot for those new to birding.