Setophaga dominica
western male
The Yellow-throated Warbler is a well-marked little songbird. The sexes are subtly dissimilar. Adult males have a blue-gray back, nape, and rear crown, darkening to black on the forecrown. The dark wings have two white wingbars, and the tail is dark. The head pattern comprises a black face with a pale supercilium (pure white in western birds, tinged yellow in front of the eye in eastern birds), a white lower “eyelid,” and a white patch behind the ear coverts. The throat and chest are yellow, and the underparts are otherwise white with dark streaks on the flanks. Adult females are similar to their respective adult males, but with a grayer forecrown and fainter stripes on the flanks. Immatures are similar to an adult female, but black elements of the plumage are paler still and the underparts are suffused buff.
The Yellow-throated Warbler is present as a breeding species in eastern U.S.A. mainly from April to August. At other times of the year it is found mainly in Central America, although small numbers spend the winter in southeast U.S.A. It forages in a relatively slow and deliberate manner, looking for insects among leaves.
eastern male
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5.25 in (13.5 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates
HABITAT Range of wooded habitats, from inundated forests to dry coniferous woodland
STATUS Widespread and common summer visitor
VOICE Song is series of thin, whistled tsi-tsi-tsi-tsu-tsu notes. Call is a thin tsip
