Yellow-breasted Chat

Icteria virens
Warbler family (Parulidae)

Our largest warbler, 6 ¼” long. Yellow chin, throat, and breast; white belly; long tail; thick bill; olive-green back; face grayish; white moustache stripe; white “spectacles”.

Habitat:
Dense shrub thickets

Nesting:
Nest is a bulky cup placed in a shrub or small tree. Eggs are white with brown marks. Clutch size 3 to 5 eggs.

Voice:

Song is an amazing assortment of whistles, rattles, squeaks, scolds, and mews.  Harsh “cheh cheh cheh cheh” and higher “tu tu tu tu” notes are frequently incorporated into the song.  All notes are clear, rich, and loud.  The phrases of notes are often widely spaced, even hesitant sounding.  The song cannot be confused with any other warbler although it may resemble the ramblings of a Brown Thrasher or Gray Catbird.  Call is a grating “chack”.

Name Origin:

Icteria:  ikteros, Greek for “jaundice” or “yellow”; virens, Latin for “green”.

In the Nature Park:
Neotropical migrant. Not abundant in the Nature Park but consistently occurs in dense shrub thickets along the Rim Trail or at the base of the quarry cliffs along the Quarry Trail. The Yellow-breasted Chat is more easily heard than seen.

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