BirdNote; The Loquacious Chat
- Transcript
BirdNote®
The Loquacious Chat
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote!
[Stream sounds]
In summer, the thick tangles of streamside vegetation in many canyons echo with an uncanny sound.
[Song of the Yellow-breasted Chat]
After a long and careful scan of the willow tree tops, your eyes come to rest on the mystery singer: a bird with a bright yellow chest and a green face marked with what look like bold white spectacles. You’ve just spotted a Yellow-breasted Chat.
[Song of the Yellow-breasted Chat]
The loquacious chat’s exceedingly varied song is not its only distinctive quality. At seven inches from tip to tail, it dwarfs all the other North American warblers. Keep a sharp eye on it though, because when the chat turns its grayish-green back to you, its image will blend so thoroughly with the leaves you may think you imagined the whole thing. Except that the song keeps coming: [Reprise, song of the Yellow-breasted Chat]
When the northern summer declines, the Yellow-breasted Chat will make its way south to winter in Central America until the springtime draws it north again.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
###
Song of the Yellow-breasted Chat provided by www.Naturesound.org recorded by Martyn Stewart.
Sounds of the stream recorded by C. Peterson in Robinson Canyon
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org July 2017 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID#072505YBCHKPLU YBCH-01c
- Series
- BirdNote
- Episode
- The Loquacious Chat
- Producing Organization
- BirdNote
- Contributing Organization
- BirdNote (Seattle, Washington)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip-3f9a741d0b8
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip-3f9a741d0b8).
- Description
- Episode Description
- In summer, the thick tangles of streamside vegetation in many canyons echo with an uncanny sound — the Yellow-breasted Chat. You may find it in willow thickets, brushy tangles, and other dense, understory habitats, usually at low to medium elevations around streams. The male Yellow-breasted Chat may sing all night during breeding season. The chat winters in Mexico and Central America.
- Created Date
- 2017-07-01
- Asset type
- Episode
- Topics
- Science
- Subjects
- Birds
- Rights
- Sounds for BirdNote stories were provided by the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Xeno-Canto, Martyn Stewart, Chris Peterson, John Kessler, and others. Where music was used, fair use was taken into consideration. Individual credits are found at the bottom of each transcript.
- Media type
- Sound
- Duration
- 00:01:45.195
- Credits
-
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:
:
Producing Organization: BirdNote
Writer: Sundstrom, Bob
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
BirdNote
Identifier: cpb-aacip-eee05ae0c7f (Filename)
Format: Hard Drive
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:01:45
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “BirdNote; The Loquacious Chat,” 2017-07-01, BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 8, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-3f9a741d0b8.
- MLA: “BirdNote; The Loquacious Chat.” 2017-07-01. BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 8, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-3f9a741d0b8>.
- APA: BirdNote; The Loquacious Chat. Boston, MA: BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-3f9a741d0b8