American Yellow Warbler: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Little Songbirds · day 3 of 7

Five facts

1. Male yellow warblers can belt out more than 3,200 songs a day during the breeding season.
2. The male's song can sound like "sweet sweet sweet, I'm so sweet", and females often give a soft chip call when he finishes.
3. Yellow warblers can recognize foreign eggs and smother them with new nest material, sometimes abandoning the clutch to start over.
4. Roughly 60 % of a yellow warbler's diet is caterpillars, and on Costa Rican coffee farms they cut coffee-berry borer beetles by half.
5. Some yellow warblers are just 10 cm long with a 16 cm wingspan, and weigh only 7 g.

The quiz

1. How many songs can a male yellow warbler sing in a day?

• About 32
• More than 320
• More than 3,200 (correct)
• Only about 3

Males can sing more than 3,200 songs a day.

2. How do females often reply after the male finishes singing?

• With a soft chip (correct)
• With a loud trill
• With a whistle
• With silence

Females often reply with a soft chip.

3. What does a yellow warbler do with foreign eggs in its nest?

• Pushes them out of the nest
• Smothers them with new nest material (correct)
• Eats them
• Hides them in the grass

It can recognize foreign eggs and smother them with new nest material.

4. What is roughly 60 % of a yellow warbler's diet?

• Seeds
• Berries
• Spiders
• Caterpillars (correct)

Roughly 60 % of its diet is caterpillars.

5. How much can some yellow warblers weigh at the smallest?

• Just 7 g (correct)
• Just 70 g
• Just 700 g
• Just 0.7 g

Some weigh just 7 g.

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