Common Yellowthroat

Geothlypis trichas

Singing anywhere from 100 to 300 times per hour, the Common Yellowthroat’s call of wichety-wichety-witchey is at the top of the playlist when you take a stroll through a local wetland, field, or forest.

Habitat

Look for Common Yellowthroats in places with dense, thick, tangled vegetation, especially where it is wet. This could be wetlands, prairie, forests, ditches, orchards, river edges, and even hedges in your neighbourhood, across Canada and much of the United States in summer. Winter takes them to similar places in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

You can find Common Yellowthroats at Oak Hammock Marsh!

Food

Common Yellowthroats eat many types of insects and spiders.

Behaviour

Males arrive in the north first and begin to defend a territory and look to attract a mate. After mating, the female, with more subdued colours, will build her nest in a well-hidden spot near the ground by weaving a cup of grasses and leaves. Laying anywhere from 1 to 6 eggs, both parents will feed the young after hatching. Brown-headed Cowbirds, which do not make their own nests, often try to sneak their eggs into those of Common Yellowthroats. Ever watching, Common Yellowthroats will abandon a nest if this happens, sometimes rebuilding on top of the old one.

Conservation

Common Yellowthroats are of low conservation concern, but they suffer from habitat loss in certain areas and pesticide use that affects their insect foods.

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