GAP Analysis Predicted Distribution Map

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens)

Species Code: ICVI

This is an "at risk" species

Legend:
= Core Habitat
= Marginal Habitat

Breeding Range Map
The green area shows the predicted habitats for breeding only. The habitats were identified using 1991 satellite imagery, Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA), other datasets and experts throughout the state, as part of the Washington Gap Analysis Project. Habitats used during non-breeding months and migratory rest-stops were not mapped.

Metadata (Data about data or how the map was made)

Click to enlarge distribution map

Other maps & Information:

Breeding Bird Atlas
NatureMapping observations
during breeding season
NatureMapping observations
throughout the year

This species is common in shrubby, riparian habitats in eastern Washington where forest and steppe zones abut each other, and in shrubby habitats throughout the Palouse region. It is possibly a rare breeder in western Washington.

Good habitat in core zones included all wetlands in the Interior Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Oak, and locally in the steppe zones. Forested habitats were suitable if appropriate habitat occurred within the larger mapped habitat. Low density development was adequate habitat. Locally, riparian areas along some major rivers in the Grand Fir zone in the Blue Mountains and east-central Cascades were included as peripherally good habitats.

Washington breeders represent the western subspecies I.v. auricollis. Recent western Washington breeding season records for the Yellow-breasted Chat are limited to singing birds, but it is possible that this species may breed irregularly there. Historically, this species bred in small numbers in western Washington. It is reported to have been common in the Vancouver area 50 years ago, but is now very localized and rare there. In eastern Washington, it is easily found in shrubby riparian areas of the Columbia Basin, up to the edge of the Ponderosa Pine zone.

Translated from the Washington Gap Analysis Bird Volume by Uchenna Bright
Text edited by Gussie Litwer
Webpage designed by Dave Lester