A New Year Chat
Yellow-breasted Chat, winter, Sherwood Island State Park, Westport, CT Jan 1, 2024 ©Townsend P. Dickinson Lis# DSC3706. All Rights Reserved.
On New Years Day 2024, this Yellow-breasted Chat was spotted by several observers in a thicket of dense brush near the Model Airplane Field in Sherwood Island State Park, Westport, CT. Chats are notoriously difficult birds to spot and we were thrilled when we spotted it after several hours and two attempts. The bird was feeding on Barberry fruit.
With the mild weather this winter, a Yellow-breasted Chat is not unexpected along the coast provided that there is enough food and shelter. Until recently this bruiser was considered a New World Warbler, but a taxonomic reshuffle has removed it from the Parulidae and placed it in it’s own family the Icteriidae.
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