The Yellow Warbler is the warbler most Michiganders actually get to know, because it does not hide in the treetops like so many of its relatives. A glowing lemon-yellow bird of willow thickets and streamside shrubs, the male adds fine chestnut streaks down his breast and sings a cheerful, whistled "sweet-sweet-sweet-I'm-so-sweet" from an exposed perch. It arrives across the state in late April and May, one of the first migrant warblers to return.
Yellow Warblers have an unusual defense against Brown-headed Cowbirds, which frequently lay eggs in their nests. Rather than raise the parasite, a female will simply build a new nest floor over the cowbird egg — sometimes producing a stacked "high-rise" nest six stories tall when a persistent cowbird keeps returning. By late summer most have already slipped south, making them a bird of the warm months.
Almost entirely insectivorous, gleaning caterpillars, beetles, midges, and spiders from leaves and twigs in low shrubs. It rarely visits feeders, though it will take insects from streamside vegetation and occasionally a few berries in late summer.
The warbler is uniformly soft yellow with a thin pointed bill and (on males) reddish breast streaks; the goldfinch has black wings, a black cap in summer, and a stubby seed-eating bill. Their songs are completely different too.
Wet, shrubby edges — willow thickets along streams, pond margins, and overgrown ditches. They forage low and sing from open perches, so they are easier to see than most warblers.
Yes. A Yellow Warbler that finds a cowbird egg often floors it over and lays a fresh clutch above, and will repeat the process if parasitized again, occasionally stacking several nest layers.
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