Wilson's Warbler
Cardellina pusilla
About This Species
Look for this small, bright yellow warbler with a neat black cap low in dense shrubs and thickets near streams or wet meadows, where it actively flits and forages for insects rather than staying still. Its song, a rapid chattering trill, helps locate it in thick cover during spring migration and on its breeding grounds. Spring migration and early summer on breeding territory offer the best chances of a clear look.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Stay at least 10 metres from dense cover where it is foraging or singing, and avoid playback or repeated calling to draw it out, which can disrupt its natural behavior.
- Migratory bird protections apply across its range spanning Canada, the United States and Mexico, though enforcement and specific rules differ by country.
- Move slowly and pause rather than pushing into thick brush, since this species is easily displaced from preferred habitat by persistent disturbance.
LCAvesPasseriformesParulidae
Seasonal Activity
2,101,123 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Parulidae
Photo
(c) Stephen DeHart, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Stephen DeHart
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.