We’ve been getting a lot of queries about yellow birds in our fair city, so we thought we would introduce you to some of them.
There are many species of small birds with some yellow on them, but these three are the brightest, and the yellowist!
Male American Goldfinch
Goldfinches (5 inches) are generally found at backyard niger seed feeders in the city. Females are a duller yellow and do not have the black cap.
Male Yellow Warbler
Yellow warblers (5 inches) can be found in shrubby areas with lots of cover. Females do not have the dark streaking on the breast.
Male Western Tanager
Western Tanagers (7 inches) prefer coniferous habitats. The bright red head of the males fades to yellow outside the breeding season.
I have a pair of little yellow birds in my garden, at first I thought they were Warblers, they are bright yellow underbelly, olive green upper but don’t have a black mask only a slight black cap and one looks to have a little blush under the chin. A little smaller than a Sparrow? Is it a slightly lost Kentucky Warbler?!
These are probably Wilson’s Warblers, a common migrant here in the fall. They can have a full or partial black cap. See these photos.
We have a yellow bird not very bright yellow a bit bigger than a sparrow, has green on him and a black bandit mask! Is that a warbler?
It could be a male Common Yellowthroat, which is a warbler but which is smaller than a sparrow. See these images. If it is larger than a sparrow, perhaps a Cedar Waxwing, although they don’t have any green on them. See these.
I also had a young pheasant in my yard yesterday. I have pictures if you’d like to see. Shoot me an email and I’ll send you pictures
You can send photos at any time to birdscalgary at gmail.com.
Hi I just saw 3 yellow birds but they weren’t any of these. They were chirping quite loud so I went to look for the birds. They looked like the first bird pictured here however his wings weren’t black more grey and didn’t have a black hood. The yellow wasn’t that bright either. If I see then again I’ll try and snap a picture of then This in discovery ridge.
Possibly Yellow Warbler if chipping loudly. Look online at more photos of these birds to compare to what you saw.
I was just at South Glenmore Park an hour ago, walking by the reservoir and I heard a bird singing. Looked in the nearby trees and found a tiny yellow bird. Based on what you have here it must have been a warbler. A few meters after that it repeated: Same spicy of bird singing and it was exactly similar to the previous. I regret that I didn’t have my camera on but thanks for the information you provide here.
Thanks for the comment, Jacob! What makes the most sense here is a Yellow Warbler. They’re pretty common, fairly loud, and can be a bit of a pain to catch out in the open!
– Dan
We have had quite a few goldfinch siteings in the past week in the reserve behind our place in Cochrane. They’ve caused quite a stir with the other birds in our neighbourhood, and has been exciting to watch the interaction.
I was surprised to see one yellow bird in our backyard, and thanks on your website, and I recognized what I saw was a goldfinch.
We spotted two yellow birds in our neighbours back yard in Scenic Acres NW – feeding on a seed feeder. One was pure yellow and the other had orange under the wings and breat
There were more Goldfinches and Western Tanagers than usual during the spring migration this year. One Calgary Field Naturalist’s Society outing in Bowmont Park in May reported 25 Tanagers!