Yellow-rumped Warbler

Birds Feeding on Wild Rice 

Birds Feeding on Wild Rice [LMills Photo]

Recently a friend was collecting wild rice near the Salmon River.  Wild rice is ripe now and ready for picking.  We have two species of wild rice in New Brunswick, Zizania aquatica and Zizania palustris.  The former occurs in the St. John, Miramichi and St. Croix watersheds.  The latter occurs in the St. John and St. Croix watersheds.  It was reported that 10 to 15 warblers of apparently one species were feeding on the heads of the wild rice plants.  Seen above is one of the photos showing a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) on the wild rice.  

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is a very common New Brunswick warbler.  They are hardy and remain here throughout the summer breeding season and sometimes well into late fall.  They feed mainly on insects but also on berries and seeds.  They can subsist on berries and seeds sometimes well into the winter.  The wild rice is heavily infected with insects so the warblers were probably feeding on them and their eggs and larvae.  They often feed around estuaries and seashores where insects are common.  Their favourite berry is the bay berry (Myrica pensylvanica).  We do have some growing along our shores so that would also attract them. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler Male in Breeding Plumage

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America.  It is hardy and adapts well to changing habitats and weather.  It has an unusual digestive system allowing it to  subsist on berries and fruits in winter which is unusual for a bird which usually feeds on insects.  It is able to digest 80% of wax-coated berries allowing it to winter farther north.  

Yellow-rumped Warbler Female

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is long-tailed and shows conspicuous yellow patches on its rump, top of head, throat and sides.  Its back is striped gray and its breast is white.  The throat can be white or yellow.  There are white wing bars and white spots on the outer tail feathers.  Fall and winter plumages are more subdued and browner.  

The Yellow-rumped Warbler inhabits most of North America.  It can be seen from Alaska across all of our provinces to Labrador and Newfoundland.  It winters in the southern US, Mexico and the Caribbean islands.  I have been in South Carolina some winters and it seemed that there were Yellow-rumps in every bush.  They were amazingly abundant!