The Yellow-breasted Chat offers a cascade of song in the spring, when males deliver streams of whistles, cackles, chuckles, and gurgles with the fluidity of improvisational jazz. It’s seldom seen or heard during the rest of the year, when both males and females skulk silently in the shadows of dense thickets, gleaning insects and berries for food. Larger and chunkier than a warbler, the chat is a widespread breeder in shrubby habitats across North America, venturing to Central America for the winter.
Identification
The Yellow-breasted Chat offers a cascade of song in the spring, when males deliver streams of whistles, cackles, chuckles, and gurgles with the fluidity of improvisational jazz. It’s seldom seen or heard during the rest of the year, when both males and females skulk silently in the shadows of dense thickets, gleaning insects and berries for food. Larger and chunkier than a warbler, the chat is a widespread breeder in shrubby habitats across North America, venturing to Central America for the winter.
Natural History
The Yellow-breasted Chat offers a cascade of song in the spring, when males deliver streams of whistles, cackles, chuckles, and gurgles with the fluidity of improvisational jazz. It’s seldom seen or heard during the rest of the year, when both males and females skulk silently in the shadows of dense thickets, gleaning insects and berries for food. Larger and chunkier than a warbler, the chat is a widespread breeder in shrubby habitats across North America, venturing to Central America for the winter.