Agencies
Services
northern yellow warbler
![yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia) [female]](https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/isp/wabyellowwarblerfemale-bs?qlt=100&ts=1691092823346&$ImageComponent$&fit=constrain "yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia) [female]")
northern yellow warbler (Setophaga aestiva) [female]
Illinois Status: common, native
Photo © briansmallphotography.com
northern yellow warbler (Setophaga aestiva) [male]
Illinois Status: common, native
Photo © Alan Murphy Photography
Features and Behaviors
FEATURES
The northern yellow warbler is four and one-half to five inches in length. Both male and female have yellow feathers on the body, head, eye ring and belly and spots on the black tail feathers. The male has red-brown lines or streaks on its yellow chest feathers. This bird has a small, black bill.
BEHAVIORS
The northern yellow warbler is a common migrant and summer resident throughout Illinois. It lives along streams and rivers, in woodlands, in parks and in other wooded areas. This bird eats mostly insects and spiders. Its call is "tsee-tsee-tsee-tsee-ti-ti-wee" or "weet weet weet weet tsee tsee." Nesting occurs from May through June. The cuplike nest is built in a low, shrubby tree, like a willow. Three to five eggs are laid. Eggs are white or green with brown markings. The brown-headed cowbird often lays an egg in a northern yellow warbler nest, leaving its offspring for the warblers to raise. If that happens, the warblers will build a new nest on top of the old one and lay more eggs. Fall migration begins in July.
Illinois Range
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Parulidae
Habitats
Aquatic Habitats
bottomland forests; rivers and streams
Woodland Habitats
bottomland forests; coniferous forests; southern Illinois lowlands; upland deciduous forests
