Northern Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush: Large, ground-walking warbler with dark brown upperparts and white to pale yellow underparts with dark, heavy streaks. Eyebrows are thick and vary from pale yellow to white. It flies swiftly in a direct line for short distances. Territorial in both its winter and summer ranges.
● Song:
"twi-twit-twit-sweet-sweet-sweet-chew-chew-chew"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Northern Waterthrush: Eats insects, spiders, snails, small fish, and crustaceans; forages by gleaning foliage, catching insects in flight, and hovering.
● Breeding & 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.
● Similar species:
Northern Waterthrush: Louisiana Waterthrush has longer bill, unspotted throat, and buff wash on underparts
● Range & 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.