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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Geothlypis trichas
Common Yellowthroat

 
Scientific Name: Geothlypis trichas (Linnaeus, 1766)
English Name: Common Yellowthroat
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-COYE
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Parulidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5 (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description: Upperparts olive-brown; throat and breast yellow; sides tan; belly whitish; adult male has a broad black mask, bordered above by white; immature male has a pale eye ring and an indistinct mask; 11-14 cm long (NGS 1983).
Global Reproduction Comments: Clutch size is 3-6 (usually 4). Usually produces two broods per year. Incubation, by female, lasts 11-13 days. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at 8-10 days. Polygyny has been observed.
Global Ecology Comments: Density was about 1.5-2.5 territories per ha in southeastern Massachusetts (Morimoto and Wasserman 1991).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
Y /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Winter: withdraws from areas north of the southern U.S. Arrives in Puerto Rico by September-October, departs mostly by the end of April but some remain into June; appears to congregate and pair before migrating north in spring (Raffaele 1983). Migration in Costa Rica extends from mid-October to November and from April to early May (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Present in South America mostly October-April (Ridgely and Tudor 1989).
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Marshes (especially cattail), thickets near water, bogs, brushy pastures, old fields, and, locally, undergrowth of humid forest. In migration and winter also in brushy and shrubby areas in both moist and arid regions (AOU 1983).

Nests just above ground or over water, in weeds, reeds, cattails, tules, grass tussocks, brier bushes, and similar situations; often at base of shrub or sapling, sometimes higher in weeds or shrubs up to about 1 m.
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Eats various small invertebrates obtained among low plants.
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 13/ / 10
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: BREEDS: southeastern Alaska to central Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, south to northern Baja California, southern Mexico, southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and southern Florida. WINTERS: northern California, southwestern U.S., southern Texas, Gulf states and South Carolina south through Mexico and the West Indies (fairly common in Puerto Rico, rare in Virgin Islands, Raffaele 1983), to Panama and rarely into Colombia, Venezuela, Netherlands Antilles.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: HAMMERSON, G.
Last Updated: Feb 02, 1995
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Ball, R. M., Jr., and J. C. Avise. 1992. Mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic differentiation among avian populations and the evolutionary significance of subspecies. Auk 109:626-636.
Bent, A. C. 1953. Life histories of North American wood warblers. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 203. Washington, D.C.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT.-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, A.C. Stewart, and M.C.E. McNall. 2001. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 4, Passerines: Wood-Warblers through Old World Sparrows. UBC Press, in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv., and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch and Resour. Inventory Branch, and Royal B.C. Mus. 744pp.
Griscom, L., and A. Sprunt, Jr. 1979. The warblers of America. Doubleday and Co., Garden City, New York. 302 pp.
Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
Harrison, H.H. 1984. Wood warblers' world. Simon and Schuster, New York. 335 pp.
James, F. C., D. A. Wiedenfeld, and C. E. McCulloch. 1992. Trends in breeding populations of warblers: declines in the southern highlands and increases in the lowlands. Pages 43-56 in J. M. Hagan III and D. W. Johnston (editors). Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds. Smiethsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Morimoto, D. C., and F. E. Wasserman. 1991. Dispersion patterns and habitat associations of rufous-sided towhees, common yellowthroats, and prairie warblers in the southeastern Massachusetts pine barrens. Auk 108:264-276.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Geothlypis trichas. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 14, 2026).