Louisiana Waterthrush

Seiurus motacillaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: LOWA Scientific Name: SEIMOT ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178935

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Overview

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

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.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"SWEER-SWEER-SWEER", " chee chi-wit-it chit swee-yuu"

Interesting Facts

A bird of forest streams, the Louisiana Waterthrush looks more like a thrush or sparrow than the warbler it is.

It occasionally naps in the middle of the day. Unlike when it sleeps at night, it does not tuck its bill behind a wing. Instead, it pulls its neck into its body, squats down, covers its legs with its body feathers, and shuts its eyes.

This species is of high conservation importance, because of its relatively small breeding range, low overall density, and dependence on clear forest streams both on its breeding and tropical wintering grounds.

A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Bird Term Glossary

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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.

Louisiana Waterthrush

● Song: "SWEER-SWEER-SWEER", " chee chi-wit-it chit swee-yuu"

● Foraging & 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.

● Breeding & 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.

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

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & 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.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationUncommon to fairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.7 Ounces

Perching-like Body

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