Birds · Passeriformes · Icteriidae

Yellow-Breasted Chat

Icteria virens

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The yellow-breasted chat is a robust bird with an intensely yellow throat and white spectacles, native to the dense scrub of North America. Its classification was a puzzle for more than a century: too large and with too strange a song to be a warbler, it ended up placed in a family of its own with a single species.

Weight

20 g – 33 g

Size

17 cm – 19 cm

Lifespan

9 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Temperate forestGrasslandOmnivore Diurnal In pairs Bird Temperate forest Grassland

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Fun facts

Its classification was a puzzle for more than a century: too large and with too odd a song to fit among the warblers, in 2017 it ended up in a family of its own with a single species worldwide.
Its song is a disorderly sequence of whistles, grunts, clicks and squawks with no fixed pattern, closer to a mockingbird's than to a small bird's, and it sometimes gives it in flight or at night.
It is extraordinarily shy: it sings from inside the densest bramble patch and stops as soon as it detects movement, so that many observers hear it dozens of times before seeing it once.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Dense scrub, brambles, forest edges and hedgerows of North America; winters in Central America
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 11 days
Litter / clutch size: 5

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icteria_virens