2025 split
Yellow Warbler split: Northern and Mangrove
In 2025 eBird split Yellow Warbler in two. Almost every Yellow Warbler in the US and Canada is now Northern Yellow Warbler; Mangrove Yellow Warbler lives in coastal mangroves.
Updated
What changed
Nests across almost all of the mainland US, Canada and Alaska.
Lives all year in coastal mangroves. In the US only in southern Florida, including the Keys, and on the south Texas coast; also in the West Indies and other tropical coasts.
Who decided, and when
- AviList, the shared world checklist: agrees, under the names American Yellow Warbler and Mangrove Warbler
- American Ornithological Society (AOS): had not made this split as of its 66th Supplement
- eBird and the Clements Checklist: its 2025 taxonomy update
- American Birding Association (ABA): added both to the ABA Checklist
Which one did you see?
Go by where you saw it. Anywhere away from coastal mangroves, from Alaska to the Gulf, it's Northern Yellow Warbler.
In the mangroves of the Florida Keys and the south Texas coast it may be Mangrove Yellow Warbler, which lives there all year. Adult males usually show some rusty color on the head, and the song is lower and richer. Northern Yellow Warblers pass through on migration too, so a bird there in spring or fall could be either.
What it does to your list
For nearly everyone it's a new name only: your Yellow Warbler is now Northern Yellow Warbler.
If you have also seen Mangrove Yellow Warbler, in southern Florida, south Texas, the Caribbean or tropical America, your total goes up by one.
Check your own list. Drop your eBird download or type your birds: the free checker shows which of them this and other recent changes touched.
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