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Common Yellowthroat | Geothlypis trichas
Gewone maskerzanger | Mascarita común | Pia-cobra-do-norte
The Common Yellowthroat is one of the most numerous warblers of North America and winters south to Central America and the Caribbean. Northern Colombia lies at the extreme southern edge of its winter range; there it is a rare winter visitor. In the guide area it closely resembles the resident yellowthroats.
Voice
The call is a dry, husky tchep, often repeated from dense vegetation. The song, a rhythmic witchety-witchety-witchety, is seldom heard in winter.
Recording: Pat Goltz — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm. The male has a black mask from forehead to ear coverts, bordered above by a whitish-grey band. The upperparts are olive-brown, the throat and breast bright yellow, the belly whitish and the flanks brownish. The female lacks the mask; it is olive-brown with a yellow throat, a faint pale eye-ring and a whitish belly. First-winter males often already show part of the mask.
Confusion species
Masked Yellowthroat Geothlypis aequinoctialis and Olive-crowned Yellowthroat Geothlypis semiflava are entirely yellow below, without a white belly, and the male lacks the whitish band above the mask. Female Mourning Warbler Geothlypis philadelphia has a greyish hood and is yellow right down to the undertail coverts. Connecticut Warbler Oporornis agilis is larger, with a complete white eye-ring and a grey or brownish hood.
Habitat
In winter in marshes, reedbeds, wet grassland, rank growth near water and dense, low scrub, also at mangrove edges, mainly in the lowlands. It forages low in the vegetation for insects and spiders. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Rare winter visitor, mainly October to April. In Colombia chiefly in the Caribbean lowlands and on the islands of San Andrés and Providencia. In Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos absent or at most an exceptional vagrant. Breeds over much of North America and winters from the southern United States to Panama and the Caribbean.
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In winter, in marshes and wet rank growth in the Caribbean lowlands, listen for a dry tchep from dense vegetation; by waiting at the edge of a reedbed you will often see the bird briefly. Check every yellowthroat with a white belly.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is very numerous in North America, although the population there has declined over recent decades.
Scientific name
Geothlypis trichas | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Turdus Trichas; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Geothlypis was introduced in 1847 by Cabanis. The genus name combines Greek geō-, 'ground-, earth-', with thlupis, an unidentified small bird. The species name comes from Greek trikhas, a kind of thrush mentioned by Aristotle; Linnaeus originally placed the bird in Turdus. The specimen the first description was based on came from Maryland, United States.