Northern Waterthrush
Parkesia noveboracensis
Also known as: Chincherry, Northern Water-Thrush
About This Species
Despite the name, this is a wood-warbler rather than a thrush, found bobbing its whole rear end while walking along the edges of streams, swamps and wooded pond margins across Canada and the northern United States in summer. Its loud, ringing song carries well over running water, making dense streamside alder and spruce thickets worth checking in late spring and early summer. On migration it turns up in a wider range of wet, brushy habitat well south of its breeding range.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Staying on the bank rather than wading into the shallow, brushy margins it favours avoids trampling both its feeding habitat and that of other streamside wildlife.
- It is protected as a migratory species under federal law in the United States and Canada, with nests built low in streamside vegetation that are easily damaged if approached too closely.
- A distance of around 10 metres while watching from a fixed spot on the bank is usually enough for clear views of its foraging behaviour.
LCAvesPasseriformesParulidae
Seasonal Activity
1,337,945 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Parulidae
Photo
(c) Ricardo Arredondo T., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Ricardo Arredondo T.
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.