Overview

Yellow-breasted Chat: The largest North American warbler. Has olive-green to olive-gray upperparts, brilliant yellow throat, breast. Belly and undertail are white. Eyes have white spectacles and dark eye patches. Bill is heavy and dark. Wings and tail are olive-green. Bill, legs, and feet are black.

Yellow-breasted Chat: Breeds from British Columbia, Ontario, and (rarely) Massachusetts south to California, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. Spends winters in the tropics, including coastal regions of southern Mexico. Preferred habitats include dense thickets and brush, often with thorns, streamside tangles, and dry brushy hillsides.

Voice Text

"caw", "cheow", "hair"

• The Yellow-breasted Chat was first described in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist.
• Its large size and stout bill, long tail, and distinctive display flight, hovering with slow, deep-flapping wings and dangling feet, make it seem more like one of the mockingbirds or thrashers.
• Unlike most warblers, this species has been known to mimic the calls of other birds.
• A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

• Common Yellowthroat
• Wilson's Warbler
• Kentucky Warbler
• Connecticut Warbler
• MacGillivray's Warbler
• Mourning Warbler
• Rufous-capped Warbler
• Fan-tailed Warbler
• Golden-crowned Warbler
• Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteriidae)

ORDER

The Yellow-breasted Chat is one of the one hundred forty-two families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that includes other small perching birds such as the blackbirds, the thrushes, and the wood-warblers.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The Yellow-breasted Chat, or Icteriidae (pronounced ick-tear-AI-dee), is a family restricted to North America that includes just one genus with one species, the Yellow-breasted Chat.

NORTH AMERICA

The sole member of this family, the Yellow-breasted Chat only occurs in North America.

KNOWN FOR

The Yellow-breasted Chat is best known for its vocal repertoire and skulking habits. Because of these two characteristics, it is much easier to hear this unique species than actually see it.

PHYSICAL

In common with other Passerines, the Yellow-breasted Chat is a fairly small bird with a medium length tail, medium length legs and strong feet suited to perching. It has medium length wings, and a fairly strong bill with a small hook at the tip.

COLORATION

The Yellow-breasted Chat is plumaged in gray-brown, olive, bright yellow, some white, and a bit of black near the eyes.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

The Yellow-breasted Chat has a large range that includes a variety of dense, scrubby habitats in southern Ontario and parts of south-western Canada, most regions of the USA that experience hot summer weather, and west-central Mexico.

MIGRATION

This species migrates to and winters in dense second growth and scrubby habitats in tropical Mexico and Central America.

HABITS

The sole species that comprises the Icteriidae is not a colonial nester, does not occur in flocks, and is usually found alone. It forages for invertebrates and other small creatures by picking them off of the dense foliage it inhabits.

CONSERVATION

The Yellow-breasted Chat is a fairly common species in suitable second growth habitat in much of its breeding range. Although some populations have declined at the northern edge of its distribution, such declines are usually associated with conversion of second growth to mature forest habitat and are thus not unexpected.

INTERESTING FACTS

The taxonomic placement of the Yellow-breasted Chat had been evasive until advanced DNA studies demonstrated that it was best placed in its own family rather than being considered an aberrant species of blackbird or wood-warbler. In common with the Northern Mockingbird, another highly vocal species, the Yellow-breasted Chat often sings at night. As with other species that occur in second growth habitats, populations of the chat are thought to have increased in numbers following fragmentation and clearance of forests during the 19th century.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Need a new Family description

From:

Date: Wed, October 18, 2017 10:00 am

To: information@birdingcraft.com

Hi Pat.

The AOU gave this bird it's own family. It was in with wood warblers. Here is the old one can you edit or rewrite as needed.

Thanks

Passeriformes (Icteriidae)

The family Icteriidae is monotypic, containing only a single species, the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens)

Wood-Warblers (Parulidae)

ORDER

The wood-warblers are one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that includes other small perching birds such as the vireos, the white-eyes, and the tanagers.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The wood-warblers, or Parulidae (pronounced pah-ROO-luh-dee), are a large family of one hundred and twenty-two species in twenty-six genera that only occur in North and South America.

NORTH AMERICA

North America has ninety species of wood-warblers in twenty-six genera; included in this family are the yellowthroats, a seemingly dizzying array of warblers, and the waterthrushes.

KNOWN FOR

The wood-warblers are known for their colorful plumages – the Blackburnian Warbler being one of the most striking members of this family with its deep orange-red throat that contrasts with its handsome black and white plumage. However while many species are known for their beautiful breeding plumage colors, they are also known to bird watchers as being extremely challenging to identify when in the fall they revert to their drab tan, olive, and pale colored plumages.

PHYSICAL

Like several other Passerines, the wood-warblers are small birds with medium length tails, medium length legs and strong feet suited to perching. They have short to longish wings (in migratory species), and medium length, thin, pointed bills.

COLORATION

Members of the Parulidae come in a variety of colors. Different shades of yellow and olive occur in many species, including the dull, brown, streaked plumages of females and immatures. In addition to having bright yellow in their plumages, males in bright breeding plumage can show orange, blue, grays, and handsome patterns of black and white.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

The wood-warblers occur throughout North America except for the far northern tundra. The many species of this family have evolved to fill a wide variety of niches including marshes (yellowthroats) to tree trunks (the Black-and-white Warbler), and spruce forests (the Cape May Warbler). Several species can reside in the same area, yet avoid competition by occupying slightly different habitats or feeding in different ways.

MIGRATION

Most species of wood-warblers are long distance migrants to Central and South America.

HABITS

Members of the Parulidae are not colonial nesters but often occur in mixed flocks with other species after the breeding season. They forage in a variety of ways for invertebrates, small fruits, and nectar. While the waterthrushes forage on the ground in streams and wetlands, and the Black-and-white Warbler creeps along tree trunks, most wood-warblers glean the vegetation of trees and bushes and make short sallies for their insect prey.

CONSERVATION

The Kirtland’s Warbler is an endangered species restricted to a very specific type of habitat mostly found in Michigan; Jack Pine forests. Its habitat is managed for this species in a few national forests by ensuring that there are Jack Pine stands of the age and composition this species requires. Brown-headed Cowbird populations are also controlled on its breeding grounds.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Bachman’s Warbler is an enigmatic species considered to be extinct by most authorities although slim hopes for its continued existence are kept alive by a few possible sightings over the last thirty years. Historically occurring in the southeastern United States, this little known species is thought to have been dependent upon canebrakes on its breeding and wintering grounds in Cuba. Although the reasons for its decline are unknown, destruction of these canebrakes is the most likely reason for its demise.

Author

Artist

Michael Oberhofer