While most of its relatives migrate to the tropics in fall, the Yellow-rump, able to live on berries, commonly remains as far north as New England and Seattle; it is the main winter warbler in North America.
The Yellow-rumped Warbler has two distinct subspecies that used to be considered separate species: the "Myrtle" Warbler of the eastern U.S. and Canada's boreal forest, and "Audubon’s" Warbler of the mountainous West. The Audubon’s has a yellow throat; in the Myrtle subspecies the throat is white.
One of the most common and widespread warblers; often the core member of mixed warbler flocks during migration, especially early in spring and late in fall. Two main populations: “Audubon’s” breeds mainly in the mountains of the western U.S. and into British Columbia; “Myrtle” breeds from the eastern U.S. across Canada to Alaska.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are impressive in the sheer numbers with which they flood the continent each fall. Shrubs and trees fill with the streaky brown-and-yellow birds and their distinctive, sharp chips.
The species combines four closely related forms: the eastern myrtle warbler (spp. coronata); its western counterpart, Audubon's warbler (spp. group auduboni); the northwest Mexican black-fronted warbler (spp. nigrifrons); and the Guatemalan Goldman's warbler (spp. goldmani).
The “Audubon’s” Warbler (auduboni over most of range, similar memorabilis of the Rockies and Great Basin, nigrifrons of northwestern Mexico, and goldmani of Chiapas and Guatemala) shows a ...