Yellow-rumped Warbler

Photo by Forcreeks
Photo taken: Sellwood, Oregon, USA.

Dendroica coronata

Includes: Myrtle Warbler; Audubon's Warbler; West Mexico Warbler; Goldman's Warbler

Identification

Yellow patches on sides unique but occasionally lacking. Birds of subspecies nigrifrons (West Mexico Warbler) are large and have dark mantle, Goldman's Warbler (goldmani) are large and have black mantle, while Audubon's Warbler are smaller and have grey mantle.

Distribution

Photo by eastwood.
Photo taken: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

North America's most common warbler. Breeds from Alaska east to northern Quebec (absent only in arctic region) south across most of the western United States; northern Minnesota and Michigan; New York; western Pennsylvania, and New England; also along the Appalachians south to West Virginia. Found anywhere in North America in migration. Winters in southern United States, along the west coast north to Washington, and in Central America. Rare in northern South America. Casual vagrant to Great Britain (22 records).

Taxonomy

The eastern (Myrtle) and western (Audubon's) races of this species were once considered separate species. New results indicate that this topic probably will be assessed again soon, and if so, each of the four groups may become full species.

Photo by etow.
Photo taken: north-central Ohio, USA.

Subspecies¹

• Group "Myrtle Warbler"

• D. c. auduboni - breeds along the Pacific Slope region
• D. c. memorabilis - breeds from se. British Columbia south (east of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada) to Arizona, New Mexico and w. Texas (this form sometimes lumped with auduboni)

• Group "Audubon's Warbler"

• D. c. coronata - breeds from n. central Alberta across Canada to the eastern United States
• D. c. hooveri - breeds from Alaska, n. Yukon, and nw. Mackenzie south to n. British Columbia (this form sometimes lumped with coronata)

• Group "West Mexico Warbler" (or sometimes called "blackfronted warbler")

• D. c. nigrifrons - breeds Chihuahua and Durango mountains in w. Mexico.

• Group "Goldman's Warbler"

• D. c. goldmani - breeds se. Chiapas (rare) and Guatemala

Habitat

Subspecies goldmani
Photo by Tom Jenner.
Photo taken: Cordillera de los Cuchumatanes in western Guatemala, April 2006.

Coniferous and mixed forests.

Behaviour

Diet mostly insectivorous but will eat berries and other vegetation.

Reference

1. Dunn, Jon; Garrett, Kimball. 1997. A Field Guide to Warblers of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780395783214
2. Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019

External Links

Search for photos of Yellow-rumped Warbler in the gallery