Yellow is a vibrant, bright, and optimistic color, after all its the color we use to paint sunshine. So, spotting a bright yellow bird in your backyard is sure to enhance your day.

• American Goldfinch 
• American Yellow Warbler 
• Lesser Goldfinch 
• Western Medowlark 
• Mourning Warbler 
• Yellow Headed Blackbird 
• Bullock’s Oriole 

Below I’ll go over the 7 yellow birds in more detail so you can possible look around marshes and gardens in Californian in an attempt to spot them out in the wild.

1. American Goldfinch (Spinus Tristis)

• Size: 11 – 14cm
• Weight: 11 – 20 grams
• Wingspan: 19 – 22cm

American Goldfinches are recognised by their yellow, black and white plumage with the wings and tail colored in black and white like a zebras fur with the forehead rocking a black patch. Females are far less colourful being pale brown in color, washed out yellow with a zebra patterned wing.

American Goldfinches tend to spend their non breeding months in California and go further up north into Canada when breeding season comes by, normally spending their time in the edges of forests and plains in areas filled with bushes and thistle plants.

In the wild these little yellow avians tend to only live for around 2 years which isn’t very long at all. Of course in captivity this may increase exponentially.

As for their diet, American goldfinches mostly consume seeds and small insects to keep up with their protein needs.

2. American Yellow Warbler (Setophaga Petechia)

• Size: 12.5 – 13cm
• Weight: 8 – 16 grams
• Wingspan: 16 – 22cm

American Yellow Warblers are yellow for the most part with streaks of brown on its feathers and back. The males have a few more patterns to their plumage but, both the males and females are mostly yellow in color.

warblers are quite common in California where they will often breed there with the odd few staying in southern California over the winter period.

These little warblers are known to live upto 10 years although most warblers don’t live nearly as long as that. Often a warblers will live closer to 2 – 5 years in the wild as opposed to the full 10.

Yellow warblers tend to consume insects and berries with 2/3 of their diet mostly consisting of small insects like caterpillars,
beetles, damselflies, treehoppers and more.

As for the habitats in which these little avians tend to spend the majority of their time, it would be bushes, swamp edges, streams and gardens.

3. Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus Psaltria)

• Size: 9 – 12cm
• Weight: 8 – 11.5 grams
• Wingspan: 20 -22cm

Lesser goldfinches have a lot of similarities to the the American goldfinch with its plumage being black, yellow and white. These finches are often located in open brushy country, open woods, wooded streams, gardens that are generally semi-open as they like being around thickets and trees that are close to open weedy fields.

Lesser goldfinches are known to eat mostly seed with insects in the mix to make up for the protein. These little avians are known to like eating thistles, the buds on trees and berries too.

Lesser goldfinches can live between 3 – 6 years although in captivity they can live for far longer, sometimes even staying living until they’re 10 years of age.

4. Western Meadowlark (Sturnella Neglecta)

• Size: 16 – 26cm
• Weight: 88 -116 grams
• Wingspan: 41cm

Western Meadowlarks have a unique design to them although the color palate of yellow, black, white and brown isn’t all the unique when compared to the other birds on this list.

Meadowlarks are recognised by their yellow and black plumage on their breast, a black, white and brown spotted pattern on their wings along with its pointy gray beak acting as another one of its standout features.

Western Meadowlarks generally spend their time in California’s grasslands, cultivated fields, pastures, meadows and prairies. This yellow bird can live upto 6.5 years although the majority will hover around the better part of 2 – 5 years.

Their diet isn’t all that different from most other birds mostly consisting of seeds, fruits and small insects.

5. Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis Philadelphia)

Source

• Size: 10 -15cm
• Weight: 11 – 13 grams
• Wingspan: 18 – 21cm

Mourning Warblers are recognised by their silver gray head feathers, yellow breast feathers and greeny/yellow wings. These small birds tend to spend their time in edges of marshes , in swamps, willow-lined streams, leafy bogs as well as dry areas like thickets, orchards, farmlands, forest edges and suburban yards.

Much like other smaller avians, mourning warblers feed mostly on seeds and insects with the occasional berry or vegetable if they come across some.

Mourning Warblers can also live for a good length of time, roughly around 7 – 8 years.

6. Yellow Headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus Xanthocephalus)

• Size: 20 – 25cm
• Weight: 44 – 100 grams
• Wingspan: 36 – 44cm

Yellow headed blackbirds are recognised by their obvious vibrant yellow face feathers, black wing feathers, beak and eyes. Their look is definitely more unique than the average black and yellow bird on his list but, their diet is more of the same.

This is because yellow headed blackbirds mostly consume seed and insects. The insects they consume include
beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, ants, wasp among other smaller insects. They also consume the occasional berry.

Like other blackbirds yellow headed blackbirds tend to spend the majority of their time in gardens, thickets, hedges, broad-leaved environments and coniferous forests.

7. Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus Bullockii)

• Size: 17 – 19cm
• Weight: 29 – 43 grams
• Wingspan: 31cm

Bullock’s orioles are recognised by a large white patch on their black wings, a yellow/orange covering of feathers around the breast with a few black streaks around their face and a silver/gray beak black beak.

These orioles tend to spend the most of their time within forest edges, farmyards, leafy suburbs, isolated groves, and streamside woods that are particularly based around cottonwood trees.

These are their summer locations when in California but, as soon as winter hits they will make their way south, towards Mexico in most cases.

Bullock’s orioles are known to live upwards of 12 years in the wild whilst captive bullock’s orioles have been recorded living up till 14 years of age.

Throughout their relatively short lives, these black and yellow birds will consume mostly seeds insects, berries and nectar.