Bird name:

Louisiana Waterthrush

Seiurus motacilla

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Code 4

LOWA

Code 6

SEIMOT

ITIS

178935

Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous, Mountains, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps, Streams, upland

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Uncommon to fairly common

Egg Color:

White with brown and gray specks or blotches

Number of Eggs:

4 - 6

Incubation Days:

12 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with roots, fern stems, grass, animal fur, dead leaves, moss, and twigs.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Louisiana Waterthrush: Large, heavy-bodied, ground-dwelling warbler with dark olive-brown upperparts and heavily streaked white underparts with buff wash on belly and sides. Throat is white; eyestripe is dark and thick, white eyebrows widen behind eyes. Bill is long and heavy. Tail is short with pale buff undertail coverts. Sexes are similar. Bobs tail continually.

Range and Habitat

Louisiana Waterthrush: Breeds from Minnesota, southern Ontario and central New England south to Texas and Georgia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include swift-moving brooks on hillsides, river swamps, and along sluggish streams.

Breeding and Nesting

Louisiana Waterthrush: Four to six white eggs, with brown and gray specks or blotches, are laid in a grass-lined nest made of dead leaves and moss, and set under the overhang of a stream bank, in a stump cavity, or in exposed tree roots. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Louisiana Waterthrush: Eats insects, other invertebrates, small fish, and small frogs. Forages primarily on the ground within the boundary of a stream channel; occasionally searches trees during insect swarms.

Readily Eats

Sugar Water, Fruit, Nut Pieces

Vocalization

Louisiana Waterthrush: Song consists of two to five loud, clear, whistled introductory notes that are a slurred upward "SWEER-SWEER-SWEER", followed by a variable, complex jumble of short, rapidly uttered phrases "chee chi-wit-it-chit swee-yuu."

Similar Species

Louisiana Waterthrush: Northern Waterthrush has shorter bill, spotted throat, and lacks buff wash on underparts.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America