Yellow-breasted Chat Fact Sheet
New York Status: Special Concern
Federal Status: Not Listed
©Philip Jeffrey Photography
It has been debated whether or not the yellow-breasted chat is even a warbler because of its uncharacteristic size, bill shape, and long tail. The largest of the wood warblers, it measures 7 inches (18 cm) in length with a heavy black bill that is slightly curved. The song is a low pitched collection of cackles, whistles, and gurgles that has been likened to a wren or a thrasher. Adults have olive upper parts, white under parts, and a bright yellow throat and breast. Sexes are similar with white eye spectacles and lores that are black in males and gray in females.
Males arrive on breeding territories before females. In New York this occurs during the first week of May. Females begin nest-building shortly after pairing with males. Pairs are monogamous and territorial but tend to nest in loose colonies. The nest is an open cup of woven grasses, leaves, and bark placed near ground level in dense shrubs or thicket. The female incubates a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs for 11 to 12 days. Young hatch completely naked and altricial and fledge after just 8 to 9 days. Diet consists mostly of insects but also includes fruits. Insects are gleaned from the ground or in areas of dense shrubs. The yellow-breasted chat has a unique habit of holding its food with its foot.
Distribution and Habitat
Yellow-breasted Chat Range
The yellow-breasted chat has a wide breeding range across the eastern United States and southern Canada from Iowa to the lowland areas of New York, south to Florida and Texas. It also occurs in scattered regions of the Midwest and west of the Rocky Mountains. Preferred habitat contains dense thickets and brush in the understory of deciduous and coniferous edges.
The yellow-breasted chat is generally a southern species that entered New York along the river systems of the Hudson Valley and Appalachian Plateau. It is an uncommon and local breeder that was detected in only 26 survey blocks during the 2000 - 2005 New York State Breeding Bird Atlas. Range-wide populations appear to be stable, but it has experienced fluctuations in peripheral and local populations. While populations in the eastern part of its range are declining, they are increasing in the west.
Distribution of Yellow-breasted Chat in New York from
1st and 2nd NYS Breeding Bird Atlas Records
Management and Research Needs
The yellow-breasted chat commonly exploits secondary growth and early successional habitats. The loss of such habitats has proven to be detrimental to peripheral populations. Management that limits succession would increase breeding habitat. Further research is needed on the relationship between breeding habitat availability and population density. The effects of brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) on the reproductive success of yellow-breasted chats also requires further study.
Eaton, S. W. 1988. Yellow-breasted chat. Icteria virens. Pages 424-425 in Andrle, R. F. and J. R. Carroll, eds. The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, NY.
Eckerle, K. P., and C. F. Thompson. 2001. Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens). In The Birds of North America, No. 575 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
McGowan, K. J. 2008. Yellow-breasted chat. Icteria virens. Pages 536-537 in McGowan, K. J. and K. Corwin, eds. The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, NY.