Yellow-breasted Chat (YBCH)
Icteria virens
Range
The Yellow-breasted Chat’s breeding grounds cover most of the central, western, and northern U.S. This includes portions of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Minnesota is the only midwest and central state where Yellow-breasted Chats cannot be found in breeding season. Their widespread breeding territory means they can be spotted all over the U.S.
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Identification
The Yellow-breasted Chat is a small, evenly proportioned bird with a striking yellow belly. Aptly named, the bird’s bright throat, chest, and belly are noticeable in both males and females, along with a bright white stripe contouring the top of their eyes. A slightly curved black bill contrasts with the steely gray of the head, which turns into an olive gray shade on the bird’s back and wings. The rump of the Yellow-breasted Chat is bright white.
While males and females both sport a bright belly, juveniles have a much duller yellow stomach, and appear more olive-green or brown in color overall. They lack the full white eye stripe, and their rump is gray.
When courting females, males will perform complex aerial displays while singing complex songs. One particular move involves hovering, with the head raised and legs extended down towards the ground. During breeding season, Yellow-breasted Chats can even be heard singing at night.
Habitat
The Yellow-breasted Chat lives in dense, brushy habitats with plenty of thickets, shrubs, or trees. They breed in the understory of deciduous and coniferous forests, but will also occupy abandoned agricultural fields, fencerows, edges of forests, swamps, marshes, and even streams or ponds. They will not breed if there is not enough adequately thick vegetation in the area, as they prefer making nests in dense thickets and shrubbery. Because of this, abandoned farmland works well for them, but any agricultural land currently in use is not suitable. They will also not be found in any meadows or man-made grasslands for grazing cattle.
Conservation Status
- Listed as Stable by American Bird Conservancy
- Listed as Vulnerable by Arizona State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 315)
- Listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International
- Listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Listed as Secure by Nature Serve Explorer
- Listed as Vulnerable by Oregon State Species of Greatest Conservation Need
Threats to Conservation
As with most endangered birds, the Yellow-breasted Chat is faced with habitat loss, or severe degradation of the historic land they have occupied for centuries. Urban development, agriculture, and general misuse of their native forests, swamps, and thickets has rendered many of these previously perfect living spaces uninhabitable and unsuitable for breeding.
These birds have also been known to experience severe casualties while migrating. Common collisions with buildings, powerlines, wind turbines, and radio towers threaten the population of the Yellow-breasted Chat every migration season, and as human development continues to increase across the Midwest, these casualties will only grow in numbers.
Due to wintering in neotropical conditions, Yellow-breasted Chats are also threatened by exposure to contaminants, and are extra vulnerable to pesticides and chemicals in their swampy or marshy habitats in the U.S.
Funding Opportunities
- America the Beautiful Challenge
- Community Forest Program
- ConocoPhillips Partnership for Public and Private Land Managers
- Conservation Nation Grant Program
- Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program
- Conservation Reserve Program
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
- Fish and Wildlife Grants List for California
- Hewlett Foundation- Western Conservation Grants
- Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative Small Grant Program
- Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant Program
- Natural Areas Research Grant
- Natural Legacy Program
- Nature Works
- Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) Grant
- NFWF- America Restoration Grant
- Pacific Birds U.S. Partnership
- Partners for Fish and Wildlife
- Point Blue California Restoration Grant
- Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
- Sacramento California Grant and Funding
- Sonoran Joint Venture Awards Program
- The Lawrence Foundation- Environmental Grants
- The Migratory Bird Program
- Tribal Wildlife Grants
- Western Habitat Grant Proposals
- Wildlife Conservation Grants for Species Conservation
- Wildlife Diversity Grant Program
- Wildlife Habitat Grant Program
- Wisconsin Forest Landowner Grant Program