Yellow-breasted Chat

Icteria virens

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestCup nestSmall · 25 g

What the Yellow-breasted Chat sounds like

Sonogram of the Yellow-breasted Chat: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by steve · Call · El Refugio, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Yellow-breasted Chat: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Song · Oak Draw Rd, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Yellow-breasted Chat: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jonathon Jongsma · Song · Oak Draw Rd, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

When considered part of the family Parulidae (New World warblers), the yellow-breasted chat was the largest species of parulid. In fact, it can often weigh more than twice as much as other parulid species. This species has a total length of 17 to 19.1 cm (6.7 to 7.5 in) and a wingspan of 23 to 27 cm (9.1 to 10.6 in). Body mass can range from 20.2 to 33.8 g (0.71 to 1.19 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 7.1 to 8.4 cm (2.8 to 3.3 in), the elongated tail is 6.9 to 8.6 cm (2.7 to 3.4 in), the relatively long, heavy bill is 1.3 to 1.6 cm (0.51 to 0.63 in), and the tarsus is 2.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Yellow-breasted Chat

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 6 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Yellow-breasted Chat

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 13 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Panama, Cayman Islands.

About the Yellow-breasted Chat

The yellow-breasted chat is a large songbird in its own family, Icteriidae, that is found in North and Central America. It was once placed in the New World warbler family Parulidae and is occasionally placed in the similarly named New World blackbird family, Icteridae.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Bobolink vs Yellow-breasted Chat · Yellow-breasted Chat vs Yellow-headed Blackbird

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