Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler has increased: up 26% on the route-weighted index since 1968.
About the Yellow Warbler
A bright, sweet-singing warbler of willows, wet thickets and streamsides, the Yellow Warbler is one of the most widespread wood-warblers in North America.
- Size
- 4.5–5 in long, about 0.4 oz (12–13 cm, 10 g)
- Habitat
- Woodlands and forest edges, including wooded suburbs and parks.
- Diet
- Insects and caterpillars gleaned from foliage.
- Range
- Recorded on 3,005 Breeding Bird Survey routes across 48 states, most concentrated in the Appalachian Mountains.
- Family
- Parulidae · Forest birds
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Notable Yellow Warbler Trends
No notable trend signals for Yellow Warbler. See the full index history below.
Yellow Warbler Population Forecast
If the recent trend holds, Yellow Warbler is projected to stay roughly flat through 2029, near 4.1 (95% range 3.3–4.9). A 5-year backtest shows a typical error of ±11.1%, with 100% of held-out values landing inside the 95% band.
| Year | Projected index | 95% low | 95% high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 4.8 |
| 2026 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 4.8 |
| 2027 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 4.8 |
| 2028 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 4.8 |
| 2029 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 4.9 |
Where the Yellow Warbler Is Detected
BBS routes recording Yellow Warbler, sized by most recent count.
Yellow Warbler Population Trend by State
| Alabama | -92% | 1968 | 35 |
| Alaska | -5% | 1972 | 124 |
| Arizona | +379% | 1970 | 43 |
| Arkansas | -36% | 1969 | 17 |
| California | +7% | 1970 | 193 |
| Colorado | -9% | 1970 | 143 |
| Connecticut | +103% | 1968 | 20 |
| Delaware | -11% | 1968 | 14 |
| Florida | -69% | 1971 | 7 |
| Georgia | -64% | 1970 | 32 |
| Idaho | +32% | 1970 | 57 |
| Illinois | +114% | 1968 | 98 |
| Indiana | +96% | 1968 | 68 |
| Iowa | +201% | 1969 | 39 |
| Kansas | +25% | 1969 | 49 |
| Kentucky | -82% | 1968 | 56 |
| Maine | -42% | 1968 | 72 |
| Maryland | +99% | 1968 | 68 |
| Massachusetts | +108% | 1968 | 32 |
| Michigan | +76% | 1968 | 104 |
| Minnesota | +71% | 1969 | 90 |
| Mississippi | insufficient data | n/a | 5 |
| Missouri | -69% | 1969 | 57 |
| Montana | +76% | 1970 | 111 |
| Nebraska | +696% | 1969 | 73 |
| Nevada | 19× | 1972 | 44 |
| New Hampshire | +7% | 1968 | 25 |
| New Jersey | +121% | 1968 | 38 |
| New Mexico | -8% | 1970 | 34 |
| New York | +42% | 1968 | 129 |
| North Carolina | -78% | 1968 | 48 |
| North Dakota | +240% | 1969 | 51 |
| Ohio | +34% | 1968 | 88 |
| Oklahoma | -63% | 1969 | 33 |
| Oregon | -6% | 1970 | 113 |
| Pennsylvania | +26% | 1968 | 132 |
| Rhode Island | +344% | 1969 | 7 |
| South Carolina | insufficient data | n/a | 5 |
| South Dakota | +95% | 1969 | 60 |
| Tennessee | -98% | 1968 | 39 |
| Texas | insufficient data | n/a | 7 |
| Utah | +396% | 1970 | 90 |
| Vermont | -15% | 1968 | 26 |
| Virginia | -75% | 1968 | 63 |
| Washington | -48% | 1970 | 97 |
| West Virginia | -60% | 1968 | 63 |
| Wisconsin | +55% | 1968 | 98 |
| Wyoming | +48% | 1970 | 108 |
Yellow Warbler Population Trend by Region
Bird Conservation Regions are the ecological unit for trends.
| BCR 2 | -0% | 1985 | 23 |
| BCR 3 | +155% | 1999 | 3 |
| BCR 4 | -23% | 1978 | 68 |
| Northern Pacific Rainforest | -48% | 1970 | 138 |
| Great Basin | +17% | 1970 | 204 |
| Northern Rockies | +19% | 1970 | 206 |
| Prairie Potholes | +257% | 1969 | 122 |
| Boreal Hardwood Transition | -4% | 1968 | 122 |
| Lower Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Plain | +11% | 1968 | 86 |
| Atlantic Northern Forest | +2% | 1968 | 149 |
| Sierra Nevada | +37% | 1971 | 36 |
| Southern Rockies / Colorado Plateau | +70% | 1970 | 181 |
| Badlands and Prairies | +139% | 1969 | 120 |
| Shortgrass Prairie | +74% | 1969 | 76 |
| Central Mixed Grass Prairie | +710% | 1969 | 84 |
| Oaks and Prairies | -66% | 1969 | 10 |
| Eastern Tallgrass Prairie | +113% | 1968 | 250 |
| Prairie Hardwood Transition | +107% | 1968 | 160 |
| Central Hardwoods | -75% | 1968 | 114 |
| West Gulf Coastal Plain / Ouachitas | -58% | 1974 | 11 |
| Mississippi Alluvial Valley | -25% | 1970 | 17 |
| Southeastern Coastal Plain | -89% | 1968 | 53 |
| Appalachian Mountains | -12% | 1968 | 360 |
| Piedmont | -52% | 1968 | 100 |
| New England / Mid-Atlantic Coast | +98% | 1968 | 147 |
| Peninsular Florida | -73% | 1971 | 7 |
| Coastal California | +14% | 1970 | 85 |
| Sonoran and Mojave Deserts | +89% | 1971 | 42 |
| Sierra Madre Occidental | +135% | 1970 | 22 |
| Chihuahuan Desert | 13× | 1994 | 8 |
Yellow Warbler Conservation Status
Least Concern
The IUCN Red List rates this species as Least Concern. Our route-weighted index shows it up about 26% since 1968.
Source: USGS North American Breeding Bird Survey, retrieved 2026-05-22. Trend is a route-weighted relative-abundance index, not an absolute population.