Brian Doyle-Murray
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Learn how to identify yellow birds in North America by pictures, sounds, and habitats. Find out which yellow birds are common, migratory, or resident in different regions and seasons.
- American Goldfinch. “I photographed this male American goldfinch in my backyard in Foley, Minnesota. Goldfinches are the small yellow bird that made me fall in love with birdwatching!”
- Yellow Warbler. “One of the things I love about Wisconsin is the variety of birds that come here during spring migration. Warblers are the a delight to see.
- Prothonotary Warbler. “It was a very nice surprise to see a prothonotary warbler this spring in Ontario. Normally I have to travel a ways to see this small yellow bird.
- Female Summer Tanager. “The female summer tanager visits our backyard for mealworms,” writes William Palmer. The female is a solid small yellow bird, in contrast to the red male.
- American Goldfinch. Scientific name: Spinus tristis. Probably the most well-known yellow birds in the U.S., the American Goldfinch is a seed-eating bird that will take advantage of your backyard bird feeders.
- Western Tanager. Scientific name: Piranga ludoviciana. The Western Tanager is impossible to miss. Males sport a flame colored head and bright yellow belly, neck, and tail.
- Prairie Warbler. Scientific name: Setophaga discolor. The Prairie Warbler makes its home anywhere but the prairie. Deceptively named, this yellow songbird prefers to spend summers in young woodlands and dense, impenetrable brush in the southeastern United States.
- Scott’s Oriole. Scientific name: Icterus parisorum. The bright and beautiful Scott’s Oriole can be found in the U.S. southwest and Mexico. They prefer to nest where yucca plants are abundant, as well as pinyon pine, juniper and agave.
- Yellow Warbler. The yellow warbler is a New World warbler and the most widespread warbler species in the Americas. They completely embody what it means to be a yellow bird, with their buttery yellow plumage combined with sweet, whistling tunes during summer.
- American Goldfinch. We can’t have a list of yellow birds without mentioning the American goldfinch. These small North American finches undergo complete molts, where males are vibrant yellow during summer and olive in winter.
- Western Yellow Wagtail. The western yellow wagtail is a small passerine native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are slender birds with long, wagging tails, and their plumage consists of olive above and yellow below.
- Western Tanager. The western tanager is a medium-sized flame-colored American songbird. While its name says tanager, this species is actually in the cardinal family, even though it resembles the tanager species.
- American Goldfinch. American Goldfinches are small birds. They have small heads, long wings, short tails, and conical, short bills. Adult males in early summer and spring are bright yellow with black wings and black foreheads.
- Yellow Warbler. Yellow Warblers are small songbirds with yellow body. They have rounded heads and medium-length tails. The bill is relatively large, straight, and thin.
- Western Tanager. Western Tanagers are heavyset songbirds. However, they’re relatively small but noticeably larger than warblers. They have medium-length tails and thick-based bills.
- Yellow-Headed Blackbird. Yellow-headed Blackbirds are relatively large blackbirds. They have large heads, plump bodies, and conical, long bills. Males are striking; they’re mostly black but have yellow chests and heads and white patches where the wings bend.
Learn the types of YELLOW BIRDS in the United States and how to identify them. How many of these YELLOW species have YOU seen?
Learn how to identify 32 different yellow birds in the US, from the common American Goldfinch to the striking Magnolia Warbler. Each species is described with its distinctive characteristics, habitat, feeding habits, breeding, and migration patterns.
