Yellow-breasted chat

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Yellow-breasted chat
Yellow-Breasted-Chat-Oregon.jpg
Near the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Emberizoidea
Family: Icteriidae
Baird, 1858
Genus: Icteria
Vieillot, 1808
Species:
I. virens
Binomial name
Icteria virens
Icteria virens map.svg
  Breeding
  Migration
  Nonbreeding
Synonyms

Turdus virensLinnaeus, 1758

The yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens) is a large songbird found in America, and is the only member of the family Icteriidae. It was once a member of the New World warbler family Parulidae, but in 2017, the American Ornithological Society moved it to its own family. Its placement is not definitively resolved.

Contents

Taxonomy

The yellow-breasted chat was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus , coined the binomial name Turdus virens, and specified the type locality as "America". [2] The specific epithet is Latin meaning "green". [3] The locality has been restricted to South Carolina. [4] Linnaeus based his account on the "yellow brested chat" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. [5] It is now the only species placed in the genus Icteria that was introduced in 1808 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. [6] [7] It is also the only species placed in the family Icteriidae that was introduced (as Icterieae) in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird. [7] [8] [9]

The yellow-breasted chat was formerly considered the largest member of the family Parulidae, but following taxonomic studies, it was moved to the monotypic family Icteriidae in 2017. [10] Although Icteriidae is a distinct family from the New World blackbirds (Icteridae), which have a very similar name, taxonomic studies support them as being the closest living relatives of one another, and in a 2019 study [11] Carl Oliveros and colleagues actually classified the yellow-breasted chat as a member of Icteridae. In addition, the former grouping of the yellow-breasted chat as a warbler was not too far off because phylogenomic studies have placed Parulidae as sister to a clade that includes Icteridae. Those results make it reasonable to view Parulidae the sister group to the clade comprising Icteridae and Icteriidae, as in Oliveros et al. [11]

The cladogram below shows the relationship of the yellow-breasted chat to the other families. It is based on the molecular phylogenetic study by Carl Oliveros and collaborators that was published in 2019. [11] The species numbers are taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). [7]

Parulidae – New World warblers (120 species)

Icteriidae – yellow-breasted chat

Icteridae – New World blackbirds (108 species)

Description

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, but the membership in this taxonomic family is disputed.

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 2.5 to 3.1 cm (0.98 to 1.22 in). [12] These birds have olive upper parts with white bellies and bright-yellow throats and breasts. Other signature features of yellow-breasted chats are their large, white eye rings, and blackish legs. When seen, this species is unlikely to be mistaken for any other bird.

The song is an odd, variable mixture of cackles, clucks, whistles, and hoots. Their calls are harsh chak's. Unlike most warblers, this species has been known to mimic the calls of other birds. Thus, less experienced field birdwatchers sometimes overlook chats after mistaking their song for species such as grey catbirds and brown thrashers, which share similar habitat preferences and skulking habits, though are generally much more abundant. During the breeding season, chats are at their most conspicuous, as they usually sing from exposed locations and even fly in the open while gurgling their songs. [13]

Distribution and habitat

The yellow-breasted chat is found throughout North America. It breeds from the southern plains of Canada to central Mexico, and mainly migrates to Mexico and Central America for the winter, although some may overwinter in coastal areas farther north. This species occurs in areas where dense shrubbery is common. Today, its habitat often consists of abandoned farmland and other rural areas where overgrown vegetation proliferates.

Behaviour

Eating a small snail in a public plaza in New York City Yellow-breasted chat eating a snail (06390).jpg
Eating a small snail in a public plaza in New York City

The yellow-breasted chat is a shy, skulking species of bird, often being heard but not seen.

Breeding

The breeding habitat is dense, brushy vegetation or hedgerows. The nest is a bulky cup made of grasses, leaves, strips of bark, and stems of weeds, and lined with finer grasses, wiry plant stems, pine needles, and sometimes roots and hair. The nest is placed in thick shrub and often only about 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) above the ground. The clutch is three to five creamy-white eggs with reddish-brown blotches or speckles. These are incubated by the female and hatch in 11 to 12 days. Both parents tend the young, which fledge in 8 to 11 days. Chats are apparently vigilant guards of their nests, as parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds is not as frequent as with other cup-nest builders. [14] They are not as monogamous, though, as other warblers. In one study in central Kentucky, DNA fingerprinting revealed that 17% of 29 yellow-breasted chat nestlings were not sired by the male of the social pair and three of nine broods contained at least one extra-pair nestling.

Food and feeding

Yellow-breasted chats are omnivorous birds, and forage in dense vegetation. Mostly, this species feeds on insects and berries, including blackberries and wild grapes. Insects up to moderate sizes, including grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, weevils, bees, wasps, tent caterpillars, ants, moths, and mayflies, are typically preyed upon and are gleaned from dense vegetation. [14] Other invertebrates, including spiders, are occasionally eaten, as well. Uniquely for a passerine of its size, the chat occasionally grips food with its feet before it eats.

Status

Yellow-breasted chats are declining in eastern North America due to habitat loss and degradation due to deforestation and urban development. This species, though less vulnerable than other cup nesters, is still sometimes victim to brood parasitism from brown-headed cowbirds that have taken advantage of the fragmentation of eastern forests to expand their range during the last century. The species still occurs over a wide range, though, and is considered to be of least concern globally. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chat (bird)</span> Subfamily of birds

Chats are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classified as members of the thrush family (Turdidae), but following genetic DNA analysis, are now considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icterid</span> Family of birds, often black with yellow, orange, or red markings

Icterids or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae, of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. The family contains 108 species and is divided into 30 genera. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The species in the family vary widely in size, shape, behavior, and coloration. The name, meaning "jaundiced ones" comes from the Ancient Greek ikteros via the Latin ictericus. This group includes the New World blackbirds, New World orioles, the bobolink, meadowlarks, grackles, cowbirds, oropendolas, and caciques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New World warbler</span> Family of birds

The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae and are restricted to the New World. The family contains 120 species. They are not closely related to Old World warblers or Australian warblers. Most are arboreal, but some, like the ovenbird and the two waterthrushes, are primarily terrestrial. Most members of this family are insectivores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooded warbler</span> Species of bird

The hooded warbler is a New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America across the eastern United States and into southernmost Canada (Ontario). It is migratory, wintering in Central America and the West Indies. Hooded warblers are very rare vagrants to western Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-throated green warbler</span> Species of bird

The black-throated green warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mourning warbler</span> Species of bird

The mourning warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Mourning warblers are native to eastern and central North America as well as some countries in Central America. They are neotropical migrants and tend to be found in dense second growth forests. They are under the Wood-warbler category, which consists of arboreal and terrestrial colorful passerines. Wood warblers are in the order Passeriformes, which are perching birds including more than half of all bird species, and the family Parulidae which also includes the Common Yellowthroat, Black and White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, ovenbird, and American Redstart. They are very similar to the MacGillivray's Warbler in appearance, especially in females and immature birds, but their breeding range does not overlap into the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada warbler</span> Species of bird

The Canada warbler is a small boreal songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). It summers in Canada and northeastern United States and winters in northern South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashville warbler</span> Species of bird

The Nashville warbler is a small songbird in the New World warbler family, found in North and Central America. It breeds in parts of the northern and western United States and southern Canada, and migrates to winter in southern California and Texas, Mexico, and the north of Central America. It has a gray head and a green back, and its underparts are yellow and white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant cowbird</span> Species of bird

The giant cowbird is a large passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It may have relatively recently colonised the latter island. It is a brood parasite and lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine-primaried oscine</span> Group of birds

The nine-primaried oscines is a group of bird families in the suborder Passeri (oscines) of the Passeriformes. The composition of the group has changed since the term was introduced but is now considered to consist of seven major families—Fringillidae, Emberizidae, Cardinalidae, Thraupidae, Passerellidae, Parulidae and Icteridae—plus some small families. When Fringillidae is omitted the remaining six families are referred to as the "New World" nine-primaried oscines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrenthrush</span> Species of bird

The wrenthrush or zeledonia, is a unique species of nine-primaried oscine, endemic to the Talamancan montane forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-throated chat</span> Species of bird

The grey-throated chat is a species of bird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green-tailed warbler</span> Species of bird endemic to Hispaniola

The green-tailed warbler, also known as the green-tailed ground-tanager, is a species of bird of the family Phaenicophilidae, the Hispaniolan tanagers. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-headed warbler</span> Species of bird

The yellow-headed warbler is one of two species of bird in the Cuban warbler family Teretistridae. It is endemic to western Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriente warbler</span> Species of bird

The Oriente warbler is one of two species of bird in the Cuban warbler family Teretistridae. It is endemic to central and eastern Cuba.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2018). "Icteria virens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T22722057A132011103. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22722057A132011103.en . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 171.
  3. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 402. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 81.
  5. ↑ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (in English and French). Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 50, Plate 50.
  6. ↑ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1807). Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale : contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Chez Desray. pp. iv, 85. Although the title page bears the year 1807, the volume was not publish until 1808. See: Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 157. ISBN   978-0-9568611-1-5.
  7. 1 2 3 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Caribbean "tanagers", Wrenthrush, Yellow-breasted Chat". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Baird, Spencer F. (1858). Reports of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practical and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean made under the direction of the secretary of war in 1853-1856. Vol. 9 Birds. Washington: Beverly Tucker, printer. p. 248.
  9. ↑ Bock, Walter J. (1994). History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 222. New York: American Museum of Natural History. pp. 117, 155, 213, 224. hdl:2246/830.
  10. ↑ Chesser, R. Terry; Burns, Kevin J.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, John L.; Kratter, Andrew W; Lovette, Irby J; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr; Rising, James D.; Stotz, Douglas F.; Winker, Kevin (2017). "Fifty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk. 134 (3): 751–773. doi: 10.1642/AUK-17-72.1 .
  11. 1 2 3 Oliveros, C.H.; et al. (2019). "Earth history and the passerine superradiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. 116 (16): 7916–7925. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.7916O. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1813206116 . PMC   6475423 . PMID   30936315.
  12. ↑ Jon Curson, David Quinn and David Beadle. 1994. New World Warblers: An Identification Guide, ISBN   0-7136-3932-6.
  13. ↑ Yellow-breasted Chat, Life History, All About Birds – Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved on 2012-08-24.
  14. 1 2 Yellow-breasted Chat. Wbu.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-24.

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