Yellow-throated warbler, May 2022 (photo by Steve Gosser)

6 August 2025

Yesterday when I wrote about two songbirds who will soon leave Pittsburgh I nearly included yellow-throated warblers (Setophaga dominica) but then I saw their unusual fall migration pattern. Did you know they leave Pittsburgh and West Virginia in early August, then turn around and surge back north into West Virginia in September?

Watch their entire migration in this weekly abundance map from eBird Status and Trends. Then we’ll take a closer look at West Virginia.

To set the stage here’s how abundant they are at the height of the breeding season in a screenshot from the week of 7 June.

screenshot from Yellow-throated warbler weekly abundance on 7 June, zoomed in from eBird Status and Trends

Now let’s watch where they go in the last week in July (26 July) through mid October (week of 11 October).

Notice how they leave our area and all of West Virginia in early August, then move back in from the southern Appalachians. Yellow-throated warblers start to leave again during the last days of September and are gone within two weeks.

Slideshow of screenshots: Yellow-throated warbler weekly abundance 26 Jul through 11 Oct zoomed in from eBird Status and Trends

Birders who live in Huntington, WV are well aware of this. Has anyone seen this in southern Greene County, PA? Here in Pittsburgh we’re too far north to see it.