Taxonomy/Description

The Common Yellowthroat is a member of the Order Passeriformes, which includes the perching birds.  It is in Family Parulidae, which consists of the New World wood warblers.  The Common Yellowthroat is in the Genus Geothlypis, which includes other Yellowthroats. 

Common Yellowthroats are small songbirds with plain olive green backs, wings, and tails.  They have a yellow throat and upper chest.  Males have whitish bellies, dusky flanks, and bright yellow undertail coverts.  Males also have a broad black mask from the side of the neck to the auricular area and from the eye to the forehead.  A whitish/grayish line above the black mask separates it from an olive crown.  Females have olive faces and their underparts are paler.  They also have an indistinct eyering and may occasionally have a faint black mask.  Immature males resemble the adult females.  Common Yellowthroats are generally 4.5-5.5 inches long.

Habitat/Diet

Common Yellowthroats live in thick vegetation from wetlands to prairies to pine forests.  They are frequently found near water.  They breed throughout the continental United States and in parts of all Canadian provinces.  They winter in Mexico and the Caribbean. The diet of the Common Yellowthroat consists of insects and spiders.  They generally pick their food off of foliage. 

Behavior/Reproduction  

Common Yellowthroats can be seen moving by hopping among branches.  They may shuffle or side-step along a branch.  Their flights are usually short and direct.  On breeding grounds, they are active from sunrise to sunset, with peak activity in the morning and evening.  On wintering grounds, they are most active in the late morning and late evening.  Interactions between males include rapid chases, sometimes followed by wing- or tail-flicking and grappling with the intruder. 

Common Yellowthroats are monogamous within a breeding season.  Females perform a copulation solicitation display in which they flutter their wings and give a rapid series of chipping notes.  Females choose nest sites and build the nests.  Nests are usually on or near the ground in vegetation to conceal the nest and protect it from the sun.  They are cup-shaped and made from plant materials.  A clutch usually contains four eggs and one egg is laid per day until the clutch is complete. The female incubates the clutch for 12 days. Chicks are born altricial and hatch at various times during a day.  Both parents feed the chicks and chicks are ready to leave the nest after 10 days. . 

Vocalizations

The Common Yellowthroat’s song is described as a bright rapid chant of “witchity-witchity-witchity-witch.”  The typical call of males and females is a “tchat,” “stagt,” “schick,” or “chit.”  This call is given year-round, specifically when a potential predator approaches the territory or if a male conspecific is nearby.