Northern Yellow Warbler

About the Northern Yellow Warbler

The Yellow Warbler is a burst of pure sunshine - among the yellowest of all birds, the male a warm golden-yellow overall with fine chestnut streaks down the breast and a gentle, dark eye set in a plain yellow face. Females and young are a softer, plainer yellow. Few birds are as cheerful to come upon.

Yellow Warblers forage actively in willows, brush, and streamside trees, gleaning caterpillars and other insects, and the male sings a bright, whistled sweet-sweet-sweet-I'm-so-sweet from the shrubbery.

In Texas the Yellow Warbler is a common migrant across the state in spring and fall, with some breeding in willow-lined wet areas, especially in the west - traveling between North American breeding grounds and the tropics.

A note from behind the lens: migration is your window, when the birds pour through willows and streamside brush. Their constant activity is the challenge - track a foraging bird, prefocus on an open perch, and catch that glowing yellow against soft green in gentle morning light.