Yellow-breasted Chat
Credit: Rick Bond

North American field guide

Yellow-breasted Chat

Icteria virens

Explore this bird

Identification

Field notes

19 cm (7-8") Fairly common across United States; range just enters southern Canada. Dense deciduous thickets and brush.

Our largest Warbler. Long tail. Thick billed. Dark upperparts. White spectacles. Bright yellow throat and breast. White belly and undertail coverts.

Solitary and shy. Often sings at night.

Song: unmusical caws, whistles, grunts and rattles.

Watch and learn

Videos

2 videos

Where it lives

Distribution maps

Source legend · original intervals

Loading the rebuilt map…

Unshaded in source · does not imply absence

Generic and winter maps may use different intervals.

Approximate reconstruction of a historical map. Source date unknown.

Geography: Natural Earth
Bird Advisor Identification rules 1 variant 1 rule

These are the observation paths the Bird Advisor can use to identify this species. Each rule is an alternative match.

Yellow-breasted Chat

1 rule
Rule 1 13 criteria confidence 4
Did the WINGS have STRIPES or PATCHES ?
No · Unknown
Were the SIDES STREAKED, SPOTTED or BARRED ?
No · Unknown
What colour PATTERN if any was on the BACK ?
Uniform · Unknown
What colour was the BACK ?
Olive (yellowish-green) · Green · Brown, or chestnut (reddish-brown) · Gray, or blue-gray · Black, purple, or dark · Unknown
What colour PATTERN if any was shown on the BREAST ?
Uniform color · Unknown
What colour was the BREAST ?
Yellow · Unknown
What colour was the THROAT ?
Yellow · Unknown
What SHAPE was the BILL ?
Straight and slender · Unknown
What LENGTH was the BILL ?
Short · Medium · Unknown
What colour were the CHEEKS ?
Yellow · Brown, or chestnut (reddish-brown) · Gray, or blue-gray · Black, purple, or dark · Unknown
What were the EYE markings if any ?
Light RING (white or yellow) AROUND the eye · Unknown
How BIG was the bird ?
Smaller than a sparrow · Sparrow-sized
What TYPE of bird was seen ?
Warbler-like