Migration and non-breeding ecology of the Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens

Detailed information spanning the full annual cycle is lacking for most songbird populations. We examined breeding, migration, and non-breeding sites for the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens, chat). We deployed archival GPS tags and light-level geolocators on breeding chats in British Columbia and light-level geolocators in California from 2013 to 2017 to determine migration routes and non-breeding sites. We examined whether chats overwintered in protected areas and characterized the percent of land cover within 1 km. We used a combination of genetics and stable hydrogen isotopes from feathers collected on non-breeding chats in Nayarit, Mexico (2017-2019) and migrating chats in Chiapas, Mexico (2018) and Veracruz, Mexico (2014-2015) to determine subspecies and infer breeding location. Endangered chats in British Columbia followed the Pacific Flyway and spent the non-breeding period in Sinaloa and Nayarit, Mexico. Two out of five chats spent the non-breeding period in protected areas, and the most common landcover type used was tropical or subtropical broadleaf deciduous forest. We found no mixing of eastern and western chats in our Mexico sites, suggesting strong migratory connectivity at the subspecies level. Western chats likely originating from multiple breeding latitudes spent the non-breeding period in Nayarit. Eastern Yellow-breasted Chats likely breeding across various latitudes migrated through Veracruz and Chiapas. Our results provide precise migration routes and non-breeding locations, and describe habitat cover types for chats, notably an endangered population in British Columbia, which may be valuable for habitat protection and conservation efforts.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10336-021-01931-8.