Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas

Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas. Photograph taken at the Estero Huivulai, Benito Juárez, Sonora, January 2020. Photograph courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, May 2011. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas. Photograph taken in the greater Santa Barbara area, Santa Barbara, California, September 2021. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

The Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas, is a member of the Parulidae Family of New World Warblers. They are medium sized in stature. They vary in color geographically with males having plain olive upperparts, a bright yellow chin, throat, and upper breast, a white belly, dusky flanks, bright yellow under tail-coverts and a broad black mask, with a whitish to gray margin above, on the side of the face that extends from the forehead past the eyes to the side of the neck. The females are similar in color but lack the mask. In Mexico they are found throughout the country however they are normally seasonal as they are highly migratory. From a conservation perspective the Common Yellowthroat is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are found in marshes and wet areas within weedy and scrubby vegetation and in dense brush in drier areas. They are active diurnally feeding primarily on insects including ants, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, grubs, moths and spiders as-well-as a few seed species.