Birdwatching The common yellowthroat: A masked skulker

Published 12:09 pm Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The common yellowthroat is a small, stocky green-backed songbird with a short neck, and as its name suggests, it has a bright yellow throat.

The male has a broad black mask that crosses its forehead with a white border above, and a black bill. Its feet and legs are pink. It is a skulker and can usually be found creeping around forest edges, or in bushes, shrubs, and thickets located near water, marshes and freshwater swamps. Quite often you will see the bird with its tail raised. The black mask of the male is diagnostic, and so is its loud song. It sounds as though it is loudly shouting the words… “Witchity, witchity, witchity.” The female lacks the black mask, but sports the bright yellow throat and a dark cheek.

Some scientific research indicates that female common yellowthroats seem to prefer males with the largest masks. These birds are mainly monogamous, but some females show no fidelity to their mates! The common yellowthroat nests on or near the ground in a thick clump of grass or weeds in weedy, bushy, and marshy habitats.

The common yellowthroat is a wood warbler. According to Sibley, warblers are small and active birds with sharp pointed bills. Other birds, like kinglets are often mistaken for warblers. The common yellowthroat is one of our most common warblers, but is not always easy to see. The male tends to give himself away though because he usually sings from a high perch on a shrub or bush before flying off to skulk through the shrubbery to forage for ants, butterflies, beetles, dragonflies or grasshoppers.

The common yellowthroat can be seen in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge in all seasons but winter. It winters in the more southern states and in the tropics. It is a nesting species on the refuge and the Peninsula. Look and listen for this masked marvel with the bright yellow throat at the Tarlatt and Reikkola units, as well as at Teal Slough and Greenhead Slough.