Episode 169: Yellow-breasted Chat Along the Creekbank
Recorded on April 25, 2025 in the river bottom at an unnamed creek that empties into the Little Tallahatchie River, this is the sound of a slow-moving creek and the early morning chorus. A recent arrival, the Yellow-breasted Chat, takes the foreground, setting up territory in the thickets along the creek bank. Males carry a wide-ranging repertoire of whistles, cackles, mews, catcalls, caws, chuckles, rattles, squawks, gurgles and pops, repeated and recombined with striking variety.
Beneath the birdsong, listeners will hear the steady glunk of a Green Frog and crickets calling from the dense vegetation along the gravel bar. The morning chorus includes Summer Tanager, Common Yellowthroat, Carolina Wren, Indigo Bunting, Northern Cardinal, American Crow, Mourning Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blue Grosbeak, Wood Thrush, Eastern Towhee, Northern Parula, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Pine Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Gray Catbird, White-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Waterthrush, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird and Blue Jay.