Goodbye to the Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Yellow-rumped Warbler doesn’t leave Louisiana until late spring; however, March is when I start preparing myself to say farewell to these winter visitors. March signals the beginning of early spring migration and the internal prompt that moves our resident winter bird population to migrate.

Usually arriving around the end of September, it makes its appearance as one of the first winter migrants in Louisiana. Seeing my first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season signals that fall is officially here. The first sighting is exciting and reassuring, like the beginning of another day; yet, by the time these winter visitors migrate in late spring, many birders have gotten ‘ho-hum’ at seeing them. “Oh, it’s another yellow rump” I’ll say as I’m calling out the birds to friends while birding. They are probably the most numerous birds that can be seen in a typical day birding in Louisiana. They are virtually everywhere.

The Yellow-rumped Warblers can be drab birds, but with much variation in their coloration, they can give novice birders pause when identifying birds. A brownish warbler, they have a white throat, a streaked chest with yellow patches on either side and a distinctive bright yellow rump patch (hence the slang name ‘butter butt’ by birders). Some birds that can resemble them—at least at a distance—are goldfinches, female house finches, and certain winter sparrows. However, once the Yellow-rumped Warbler moves its wings and flashes the yellow on its rump, there is no mistaking which bird you are looking at. The identification key is to see the yellow rump patch.

With a distinctive “tcheck” call note, the sound of a Yellow-rumped Warbler can be mistaken for that of our Northern Cardinal. They can be seen individually, but usually they are found in flocks—in trees, shrubs and on the ground— and sometimes in mixed flocks with Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Goldfinches and House Finches.

While they mainly eat insects, they can also survive on berries, such as the wax myrtle berry. The hungry bird will sally out from a branch to catch an insect in midair. This behavior is called flycatching and what you observe when you see it flitting in seemingly wild abandon on the trail of an insect tidbit.

Good places to see them include any wooded lot, park or backyard. In Baton Rouge, Bluebonnet Swamp and Nature Center can be ideal to see flocks of them. In St. Francisville, Port Hudson State Commemorative Site and Oakley Plantation both provide ideal habitat to see these warblers.

By the time the Yellow-rumped Warblers migrate north for their breeding grounds, they are molting into their handsome breeding plumage. Their numbers decrease gradually as they migrate from Louisiana. I am sorry to see them leave because I have begun to expect to see them every time I go birding. I’ve taken their daily presence for granted.   Happy Birding.

Harriett Pooler has been an avid bird watcher for the past seventeen years, is a member of the LA Ornithological Society, and is the immediate past president for the Baton Rouge Audubon Society, as well as Donor Relations Manager for The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana.