Yellow Breasted Chat (Warbler)

The largest warbler, chats are secretive for most of their lives. Along the coast chats are not an easy bird to see. In the spring you are much more likely to hear them than see them. They like to creep around thickets, often calling quietly with their strange combination of whistles, gurgles, chortles and grunts. You might have a better chance of seeing them in the fall, when their pursuit of poison ivy berries brings them out into the open. During the breeding season chats are the most obvious – they like to call from high perches and often do aerial courtship displays unlike any other bird. In the summer Chats breed at ROLF.