The Common Yellowthroat is a warbler that behaves more like a wren, skulking low through cattails and wet thickets and popping up just long enough to deliver its rolling "witchety-witchety-witchety" song. The male wears a broad black mask edged with white above a brilliant yellow throat — a look that reads unmistakably as a tiny bandit. Females lack the mask, showing plain olive above and yellow below.
This is one of Michigan's most widespread breeding warblers, filling nearly any marshy edge, damp meadow, or overgrown ditch across the state from May through September. Because it stays low and hidden, most people hear far more yellowthroats than they see. Patience near a cattail stand, though, usually earns a look as the curious male climbs a stem to investigate an intruder.
Feeds almost entirely on insects and spiders gleaned from low, dense vegetation — including caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and aphids. It forages within a few feet of the ground or water and does not visit feeders.
Almost certainly a male Common Yellowthroat. The rolling three-part phrase carries well across wetlands and is one of the most recognizable marsh songs in Michigan.
Wait quietly at the edge of a cattail marsh or wet thicket. Males are curious and territorial, and will often climb into view to check out a soft "pishing" sound or a rival song.
No. Only males wear the black bandit mask. Females are plain olive-brown above with a yellow throat and no mask, which can make them easy to overlook.
Immature males show a smudgy, incomplete version of the black mask, and immature females have no mask at all — just dull yellow underparts and a plain brown-olive face. Both keep the bright yellow throat.
Other birds you might be looking at instead.
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