Louisiana Waterthrush

Overview

Louisiana Waterthrush: Large ground-dwelling warbler, dark olive-brown upperparts, heavily streaked white underparts with buff wash on belly and sides. White throat; eyestripe is dark and thick, white eyebrows widen behind eyes. Bill is long and heavy. Tail is short with pale buff undertail coverts.

Range and Habitat

Louisiana Waterthrush: Breeds from Minnesota, southern Ontario and central New England south to Texas and Georgia. Spends winters in the tropics. Preferred habitats include swift-moving brooks on hillsides, river swamps, and along sluggish streams.

INTERESTING FACTS

A bird of forest streams, the Louisiana Waterthrush looks more like a thrush or sparrow than the warbler it is.
It occasionally naps in the middle of the day. Unlike when it sleeps at night, it does not tuck its bill behind a wing. Instead, it pulls its neck into its body, squats down, covers its legs with its body feathers, and shuts its eyes.
This species is of high conservation importance, because of its relatively small breeding range, low overall density, and dependence on clear forest streams both on its breeding and tropical wintering grounds.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

The Louisiana Waterthrush has a large range, estimated globally at 2,400,000 square kilometers. Native to the Americas and surrounding island nations, this bird prefers forest, shrubland, and wetland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 260,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Louisiana Waterthrush is Least Concern.