Family: Parulidae, Wood Warblers view all from this family

Description 6" (15 cm). A terrestrial, thrush-like warbler. Olive-brown above; pale yellowish below with black streaks; narrow, yellowish-white eyebrow; streaked yellowish throat. Frequently bobs tail. See Louisiana Warbler.

Habitat Lakeshores, wooded swamps, and cool bogs, in the breeding season; almost any wooded habitat during migration.

Nesting 4 or 5 creamy-white eggs, with brown blotches, in a nest of moss set in a bank, at the base of a trunk, or among the roots of an overturned tree.

Range Breeds from Alaska and much of Canada south to northern United States. Winters in tropics.

Voice   Song chee-chee-chee, chip-chip-chip-chew-chew-chew, loud and ringing, speeding up at the end. Call a sharp chink.

Discussion Ornithologist E. H. Forbush's observation about the Northern Waterthrush, made more than half a century ago, still applies: "It is a large wood warbler disguised as a thrush and exhibiting an extreme fondness for water." Like its relative the Ovenbird, it walks rather than hops. This species is among the first to move south during the fall migration, and southern migrants are regularly reported by the middle of July or earlier. One individual banded on Long Island during a southbound flight was recovered the following winter in Venezuela and, remarkably, was trapped a year later at the same place in Venezuela.