CLIPBOARD : BREEDING BIRDS : YELLOW WARBLER (Dendroica petechia)

Description: This plump, short-tailed birdlet (smaller than a sparrow) has a thin, needle-like beak, olive-yellow head, back and tail. Males have reddish-yellow mottling on breast. Male juveniles are pale yellow; females are grayish-yellow. It is the only warbler that is yellow overall. Length: 5 inches.

Habitat: Gardens, well-watered scrub, riparian thickets.

Diet: Mostly insects with few berries.

Displays: Male courts and pursues female from two to four days.

Nest: Compact nest, built in a tree, of weed stalks and shredded bark, then lined with fine materials.

Eggs: Off-white, sometimes with greenish tint; marked with brown, gray or olive splotchings (occasionally barely marked) and usually wreathed. Length: 0.7 inches.

Call: Rapid and bright song, sweet sweet sweet .

Notes: An overwing scratcher. This mostly arboreal warbler preens and scratches head by extending leg over a drooping wing that is held close to the body. Ground-dwelling warblers are underwing scratchers. One possible explanation for the difference in head preening methods is that the ground-dwellers’ underwing method may serve to clean the wings.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Sources: Sea and Sage Audubon Society; “The Birder’s Handbook,” Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).