BIRDS: PASSERINES: WOOD WARBLERS

Yellow-breasted Chat, Icteria virens

Family Parulidae (Wood Warblers)

Size: 7.5"

Season: Summer

Habitat: Dense vegetation, woodland edges

The largest wood warbler, the yellow-breasted chat has a long, rounded tail and a heavy, black, pointed bill with a strongly curved culmen. It is uniformly greenish-brown above, its belly and undertail coverts are white, and its chin and breast are bright yellow. The head is dark, with bold white patterning above the lores, at the malar area, and around the eye, forming white “spectacles.” Females are slightly duller in color. Yellow-breasted chats forage in low brush for insects and berries, and have quite variable vocalizations, including mimicking the songs of other birds. The male has a strange display behavior in which he hovers and dangles his legs. The adult is illustrated.