Description

This species is entirely yellow with yellowish-green upperparts and whose dark eye stands out on the face of the bird. The breast of the male has reddish or almost chestnut-coloured streaks whereas the female breast is not streaked and tends to be greener. A distinguishing characteristic of this species is the yellow on the inner web, except for the middle pair, of the tail feathers.

The preferred habitat of the Yellow Warbler includes wet shrubby areas in disturbed and early successional habitats such as deciduous thickets and especially where willow is present.

The song of the Yellow Warbler is quite similar to the songs of the Magnolia and Chestnut-sided Warblers, but has an accented ending as represented by "see-see-see, ti-ti-see" or "sweet sweet sweet, I am so sweet, see-see whew."

The male is usually unmistakable but the female typifies the "little yellow bird" and hence could be mistaken for many other species. The underside of the tail is yellow with olive ends, and this separates the Yellow Warbler from all warblers except for female and immature American Redstarts.

The Yellow Warbler seems to tolerate human presence well and responds well to "pishing" calls. The Yellow Warbler pumps its tail in an up-down motion although not as exaggeratedly as the Prairie and Palm Warblers. It forages on insects and other arthropods and occasionally takes wild fruit.
This species is highly detectable in the field both vocally, due to its ready responses to "pishing," and visually, due to its bright yellow colour that can be seen easily amongst moist shrubs such as alder and willow.

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