A thistle feeder is an effective way to attract goldfinches.
Visit a rural area, bring binoculars and be still -- watch and listen. That is the way to spot birds, both in the wild and in your backyard. The next step is figuring out which bird you saw. Naming what you spot involves knowing anatomical features and ranges of the bird. Yellow birds seen in Ohio include year-round residents, breeders arriving in early summer, migratory fliers and winter visitors. Then, there's that rare bird sighting.
Year-Round Residents
The American goldfinch is a songbird that lives in Ohio year-round. The male of the species is bright yellow and black, with white bars on its wings and tail. The American goldfinch is about 4 1/4 inches long. During winter months, they shed their bright feathers and grow drab olive-colored feathers. Females become a little lighter in the spring, and are also yellow at the throat and rump area. The American goldfinch is a frequent feeding-station visitor, especially if Niger thistle seed fills the feeder.
Breeding and Summer Visitors
Warblers belong to the large genus Dendroica. Species of warblers include birds that have yellow plumage mixed with bluish and black-colored feathers. There are white wing eye rings on many and the group is noted for having wing bars and tail spots. They breed during summer in most of North America. Warblers range from 4 to 4 3/4 inches long. Warblers include the blue-winged, prothonotary, yellow, yellow-throated, common yellow throat, prairie, Kentucky and Wilson's warbler.
The 6 1/4 inch long yellow-breasted chat has a large heavy bill, white eye spectacles and plain olive-green upperparts and is common in summer in deciduous thickets.
The uncommon yellow-throated vireo, 5 inches, has yellow on the face and breast. It has a heavy bill and yellow spectacles.
Orchard oriole females have greenish-yellow plumage, while the female and immature summer tanager is a yellow-orange. Both are 6 1/4 to 6 1/2 inches long.
Winter Visitors
Two yellow birds visit Ohio in the winter -- the evening grosbeak and the yellow-rumped warbler. Evening grosbeaks are a large 7 1/2-inch long bird. They have a substantial bill that is pale in color. The body and forehead is yellow with large white wing patches. It frequents feeders with sunflower seeds.
Yellow-rumped warblers of the myrtle race nest in fir forests and their yellow plumage is on the rump, top of the head and side patches near the wing shoulders. The rest of the bird is black and white. It is 4 3/4 inches in length.
Migratory Fliers
Many warblers fly through Ohio on their way to summer breeding grounds higher north. The Nashville, magnolia, Cape May, black-throated green, mourning, palm, Canada and blackburnian warblers are seen in late April or early to mid-May. The northern parula, 3 3/4 inches, has a bluish back, yellow throat and yellow patch on its back.
The yellow-bellied flycatcher, a 4 1/2 inch long black-winged bird, has a yellow buffy throat and flanks. Flycatchers perch, flip their tails up and down, rapidly fly off then perch again as they catch flying insects.
Philadelphia vireos, 4 3/4 inches, have yellow flanks and throat with buffy underparts and the characteristic heavy bill with a tiny hook at the end.
Rare Sightings
The hybrid yellow-colored warbler, Lawrence's warbler, is rare to see as it migrates north to the upper Great Lakes in summer. Connecticut and Kirtland's warblers are a rare treat to spot as well.
House finches are usually red with brown, but up to 5 percent are yellow to yellow-orange and brown due to a pigment anomaly caused by the food they ingest.
A yellow-headed blackbird was spotted in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2002, far east of its summer and northeast of its usual winter range.
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