General
Northern Waterthrush: Large, ground-walking warbler with dark brown upperparts and white to pale yellow underparts with dark, heavy streaks. Eyebrows are thick and white. Sexes are similar. Bobs tail as it walks.
Range and Habitat
Northern Waterthrush: Breeds from Alaska and much of Canada south to the northern U.S. Spends winters in the tropics. Prefers cool, dark, wooded swamps, thickets of bogs, margins of northern lakes, and willow and alder bordered rivers; during the spring and fall migration, often found in thick cover along streams, marshes, and stagnant pools.
Breeding and Nesting
Northern Waterthrush: Three to six cream or buff eggs with brown or gray specks and spots are laid in a nest made of moss and set in a bank, at the base of a trunk, or in the roots of an overturned tree. Eggs are incubated for approximately 13 days by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Northern Waterthrush: Eats insects, spiders, snails, small fish, and crustaceans; forages by gleaning foliage, catching insects in flight, and hovering.
Readily Eats
Sugar Water, Fruit, Nut Pieces
Vocalization
Northern Waterthrush: Song is "chee-chee-chee, chip-chip-chip-chew-chew-chew", loud and ringing, speeding up at the end. Call is a sharp "chink."
Similar Species
Northern Waterthrush: Louisiana Waterthrush has longer bill, unspotted throat, and buff wash on underparts