Geothlypis trichas
Huntley Meadows Park
Common Yellowthroats are
small birds, growing up to six inches in length. They have
olive-brown bodies with bright yellow throats. Males have a
dark black mask. Females and young yellowthroats do not have
a mask. Yellowthroats live in
grassy marshes,
or in wet meadows
or thickets.
They nest on or near the ground, usually in a clump of
grass, cattails, reeds, bulrushes, weeds or low shrub.
Sometimes they nest in a willow tree or inside a Skunk
Cabbage. Copyright Lang
Elliott/NatureSound Studio, www.naturesound.com
Copyright, Tam Stuart
Copyright, Peter
LaTourrette, http://birdphotography.com Common Yellowthroats
build their nest from a variety of materials, including:
grasses, sedges, bark,
ferns, rootlets,
and hair. A female yellowthroat lays 3 to 5 brown eggs with
black spots. Yellowthroats are very
careful about their nests. They never fly directly to them,
instead they fly to the ground and then walk to the nest.
They leave the same way, so predators
cannot find it. Eggs hatch in about 12
days, and young yellowthroats leave the nest about 10 days
later. Yellowthroats are often
bothered by the parasite,
Brown-headed Cowbird. A cowbird female will lay her egg in a
yellowthroat nest, letting the parents raise her young for
her. The larger cowbird baby gets most of the food at the
expense of yellowthroat babies. Sometimes it even pushes the
yellowthroats out of the nest.
Copyright, Peter May
Common Yellowthroats eat
mostly insects and spiders, including: caterpillars,
grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, aphids, and
many others (adults
and larvae).
They do eat some seeds. Because they spend a lot
of time on the ground looking for food, plants are very
important as cover. Yellowthroat predators
include snakes, turtles, raccoons, opossums and other
animals which may find the low-lying eggs or nestlings.
Adults may be attacked by hawks or owls. Copyright, Mike
Danzenbaker, www.avesphoto.com
