Northern Waterthrush

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iNorthern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush by LA Fuertes

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Parulidae
Genus:	Seiurus
Species:	S. noveboracensis

Binomial name

Seiurus noveboracensis
(Gmelin, 1789)

The Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis) is one of the larger of the New World warblers. It breeds in the northern part of North America (in Canada, and the northern United States, including Alaska) and is migratory, wintering in Central America, the West Indies, and Florida. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

The Northern Waterthrush is 13.5 cm long, weighs 15 g, and has a plain brown back, and white underparts streaked with black. There is a strong white supercilium, and the legs are pink. All plumages are similar, but young birds have buff underparts rather than white.

The only confusion species is the closely-related Louisiana Waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla), which has buff flanks and undertail and bright pink legs. The Louisiana Waterthrush also tends to have a more unstreaked, white throat.

Both waterthrush species walk rather than hop, and seem to teeter, bobbing their rear ends as they move along.

The breeding habitat is wet woodlands near standing water. Northern Waterthrushes nest in a stump or among tree roots, laying three to six eggs (cream- or buff-colored, with brown and gray spots) in a cup nest of leaves, bark strips, and rootlets.

They are terrestrial feeders, eating insects, mollusks, and crustaceans among the leaf litter. Their song is a loud swee swee chit chit weedleoo; their call is a hard chink.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Seiurus noveboracensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Cassidy, James (ed.) Book of North American Birds. Reader's Digest: 1990. ISBN 0-89577-351-1.
Curson, Quinn and Beadle, New World Warblers ISBN 0-7136-3932-6
Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-08-149600-4