Yellow-breasted chat banded at Starr Ranch Sanctuary

Photo by Tom Sheffield

This is the first time the a yellow-breasted chat has been seen at the Starr Ranch Sanctuary in south Orange County, California in 25 years. The bird was banded and released.

Chats are small songbirds but are large and bulky compared to other warblers. They have a long tail, large head and a relatively thick, heavy bill.

The yellow-breasted chat offers a cascade of song in the spring, when males deliver streams of whistles, cackles, chuckles, and gurgles with the fluidity of improvisational jazz. It’s seldom seen or heard during the rest of the year, when both males and females skulk silently in the shadows of dense thickets, gleaning insects and berries for food. The largest of our warblers, the chat is a widespread breeder in shrubby habitats across North America, venturing to Central America for the winter. 

Read more at Audubon California.