Icteria virens

Description:

In our area of the country, [Arizona] the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) sings a loose mimicry of the sounds around him which fall within his vocal range. In the Southwest, these sounds include Orioles' chatter, Ravens and Jays, Woodpeckers and even Rattlesnakes, some of which you'll hear in this "sampler" of a Chat at Tavasci Marsh [Arizona], 5/98. The Chat's songs are a series of short phrases often separated by a single punctuation note. The phrases are sometimes repeated, often not, as he goes from one sound to another in rapid succession. It can be mistaken for a Mockingbird, but the series of short, repeated phrases gives him away.