#icteria

[herpsandbirds]

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), family Icteriidae, Knoxville, Uvalde, TX, USA

This species was once considered to be a wood warbler, in the family Parulidae, but is now placed in its own family (of which it is the only member).

They are most closely related to the blackbirds, family Icteridae.

photograph by Mick Thompson

[snailkites]

imagine you're a chat and you ditch your chat spouse to go to the chat nightclub to have a hot chat date and you see your chat spouse there who is also ditching you. wyd

(from the Yellow-breasted Chat account in Birds of the World)

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Icteria virens

By Bettina Arrigoni, CC SA-2.0 

Etymology: Yellow Bird

First Described By: Vielliot, 1808

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Australaves, Eufalconimorphae, Psittacopasserae, Passeriformes, Eupasseres, Passeri, Euoscines, Passerides, Core Passerides, Passerida, Passerid Clade, Icteridae

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

The Yellow-Breasted Chat is known from all over North America 

Physical Description: Yellow-Breasted Chats are medium sized perching birds, about 19 centimeters in length, with thick beaks and long tails. They have grey heads and backs, with olive wings and tails. Their breasts - as suggested by their names - are bright yellow, while their rumps are more white in color. Their heads have an interesting black stripe over the eye, flanked on either side by distinctive white stripes. Though they vary a bit in color among sub-populations, the sexes tend to be similar. The juveniles, meanwhile, have more greyish-brown colors on their heads and breasts before reaching sexual maturity.

Diet: Yellow-Breasted Chats feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates, though they supplement their diets with berries and fruits. 

By Stanislav Harvančík, all rights reserved

Behavior: These birds will forage by going through the dense understory of the forest, though they do occasionally hop down to the ground to look for food. Interestingly enough, they hold their food with their feet while eating! These are shy birds, which are usually heard but never seen. They do sing, from time to time, usually a loud jumble of cackling, rattling, whistling, and even mewing. They do make a more uniform “chack chack chack” call to each other, similar in a lot of ways to the Grey Catbird.

The Yellow-Breasted Chat does migrate, sometimes over somewhat long distances - they breed in the continental United States, migrate across Northern Mexico, and then spend the winter in Southern Mexico and the rest of “central” America. Some populations do stay in Mexico their whole life, and only migrate a little between scrubland and forest habitat based on the season. Mating begins in May and extends through early August, though egg laying is concentrated in April through July. Double-brooding is very common, so they lay two broods per season. They make nests out of weed stalks, straw, leaves, and bark, which are placed low in the shrub or on a small tree. They lay between three and five eggs, which are incubated for two weeks, and then the nestlings are cared for for another week and a half or so. They guard their nests vigorously, given common parasitism - however, they are not very monogamous birds, though they do tend to stay in pairs as a general rule. 

By Emily Willoughby, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Ecosystem: During the breeding season, Yellow-Breasted Chats live in dense thicket and scrub on the edge of woodland; they move to more woody areas during the off season, especially pine savanna and riparian forest, as well as some mangrove forests. Their nests are typically parasitized by Cowbirds and Cuckoos.

Other: This bird is not considered threatened with extinction, as it is very common over its entire range, doesn’t show long-term changes in population, and isn’t particularly threatened with habitat loss (since it’s well-adapted for a variety of habitats). Interestingly enough, the Yellow-Breasted Chat is a very genetically distinct type of bird, and is placed in its own group separate from other songbirds.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Curson, J. & Garcia, E.F.J. (2019). Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.

[dendroica]

Yellow-breasted Chat, front and back (by me)

[herpsandbirds]

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), singing, family Icteriidae, order Passeriformes, NM, USA

This species was once considered to be a wood warbler, family Parulidae, but is now placed in its own family ( it is the only member of this family.

Genetic studies suggest that their closest living relatives are the blackbirds in the family Icteridae.

photograph by Evan Barrientos

[herpsandbirds]

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), family Icteriidae, order Passeriformes, Uvalde, TX, USA

This species was once considered to be a wood warbler, family Parulidae, but is now placed in its own family (of which it is the only member).

Genetic studies suggest that their closest living relatives are the black birds in the family Icteridae.

photograph by Mick Thompson

[herpsandbirds]

✨I randomly saw a yellow-breasted chat when walking home today; any cool info about them?

Yellow-breasted Chat:

One of the birds I most look forward to seeing during Spring Migration. They don't breed here in SE Texas.

For a long time, ornithologists did not know how to classify them. They were grouped with the New World/Wood Warblers for a long time, even though we all knew they were most likely not warblers at all. Genetic analysis of Yellow-breasted Chats revealed that they are most closely related to the black birds in the family Icteridae, but are distant enough from all other birds to warrant their own family Icteriidae (note the similar spelling but with an extra i to be confusing).

They are not related to old world birds with the word "chat" in their common name.

Unlike their close relatives, the YB Chat is known to sometime mimic the calls of other bird species.

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), family Icteriidae, order Passeriformes, Uvalde, TX, USA

photograph by Mick Thompson

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), family Icteriidae, order Passeriformes, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

This species was once considered to be a wood warbler, family Parulidae, but is now placed in its own family (of which it is the only member).

Genetic studies suggest that their closest living relatives are the black birds in the family Icteridae.

Omnivorous.

Not terribly monogamous. Though they pair off, there is much mating outside of the pair bond.

photograph by Loud Photography

[herpsandbirds]

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), family Icteriidae, order Passeriformes, TX, USA

This species was once considered to be a wood warbler, family Parulidae, but is now placed in its own family (of which it is the only member).

Genetic studies suggest that their closest living relatives are the black birds in the family Icteridae.

The taxonomic affinities and status of this bird are still up for debate though (although it is widely accepted that it is not a new world “wood” warbler).

photograph by Mark Watts