Common Yellowthroat

Keep an eye and ear out for this black-masked yellow-throated male bird scolding others from a brushy area, briar patch, or the edge of a marsh saying "Whichery-whichery-whichery." These warblers (4-5") have a white "eyebrow" line above the mask and are mostly olive green on the backside with a yellow rump patch on the underside. The female isn't as showy and doesn't wear the mask or eyebrow line. They are olive-backed with a yellow throat and white belly.

Yellowthroats are bug-eating machines and can inhale somewhere around 89 aphids in 60 seconds! They love to eat leaf-eating insects like the cankerworm and webworm caterpillar. The males perform aerobatics to attract females during breeding season. a male yellow throat will shoot out of the brush to loop in flight at 25-100 feet in the air, letting out a sharp call. Then he'll come back to do it again. At the peak of flight, you'll hear a bunch of high-notes. When finished, he'll hide back in the brush again. Yellowthroats are common throughout most of the United States and southern Canada.