Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Description:

As pictured, this bird has yellow patches on its neck, top of head, and topside just above the tail. The upper body, back and wing tops are streaked white on gray.

Habitat:

This bird was spotted in a riparian area of mostly deciduous trees in Patagonia, AZ. Resources I consulted indicate they seem to prefer coniferous areas. Patagonia is just a few miles north of the US/Mexico border, and I suspect when they were spotted in February, they were migrating north from Mexico and Central America.

Notes:

I noted that these birds acted very much like flycatchers, springing from tree branches to catch insects on the fly. According to sources I checked online, their diet is versatile. They are the only bird that can digest waxy berries such as wax myrtles…and with the varied insect and berry diet they range further north for longer periods than other warblers.