It took about 15 minutes to find this male Common Yellowthroat Warbler Tuesday, July 13. He would sing from within a large bush; I would go near the bush; he would stop singing; I would stick my head into the bush and “phish” for him, and I would hear him singing from a different bush.

He eventually tired of the game and stayed put for about three seconds. (Repeatedly making a “phish, phish” or similar sound sometimes attracts curious birds.)

Common Yellowthroats are our only warblers that nest low and stay low most of the time. They’re easily missed by those who always look up in the treetops for warblers. Common Yellowthroats are not to be confused with Yellow-Throated Warblers, which mostly inhabit leafy treetops in summer. Why such similar names were chosen is beyond me.

However, as far as descriptive names go, the two Yellow Throats seem to have fared better than their cousin, the Yellow-Rumped Warbler:

It seems to me that the Yellow-Rumped just as easily could have been called a Yellow-Sided or a Yellow-Crowned Warbler.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Yellow Bird Road