Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son, Louisiana wa­terthrushes (Seiu­rus motacilla) are found from Min­nesota, south­ern On­tario and cen­tral New Eng­land, south to Texas, Louisiana and Geor­gia. In south­ern On­tario, they are found pri­mar­ily within the Nor­folk Sand Plain re­gion, which bor­ders the north shore of Lake Erie. Their breed­ing range has ex­panded north­ward, most likely in re­sponse to the re­for­esta­tion of areas ex­ten­sively lum­bered in the late 19th and early 20th cen­tury. In Min­nesota, Louisiana wa­terthrushes are found mostly in the east­ern part of the state, par­tic­u­larly in Chis­ago and Wash­ing­ton coun­ties along the St. Croix River, as well as in Winona and Hous­ton coun­ties. They are also found in south­ern Pine County and west to the Mankato area of the Min­nesota River val­ley. Dur­ing win­ter­ing months, Louisiana wa­terthrushes are found in north­ern Mex­ico, Cen­tral Amer­ica and north­ern South Amer­ica. They also win­ter in the West In­dies and the Caribbean. Oc­ca­sion­ally, these birds may win­ter within the south­east­ern United States. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; "Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Bull and Far­rand Jr., 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Eck­ert, 2002; Far­rand Jr., 1988)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Louisiana wa­terthrushes typ­i­cally re­side in areas with run­ning wa­ters, such as brooks, river swamps and even slug­gish streams. They pre­fer creeks that are heav­ily wooded with lime­stone edges along the banks, par­tic­u­larly in their north­ern range, as well as areas with mod­er­ate to sparse un­der­growth. Al­though they pre­fer run­ning water, they can be found in swamps in the south­ern por­tion of their range, as well as dur­ing mi­gra­tion. Louisiana wa­terthrushes are con­sid­ered area-sen­si­tive for­est species be­cause they ex­hibit a pref­er­ence for older growth wood­lands. They re­quire large tracts, of at least 100 ha, of these ma­ture forests. There is a 50% lower prob­a­bil­ity of Louisiana wa­terthrushes being found in forests smaller than 350 ha. These birds also avoid areas of high el­e­va­tion. Dur­ing breed­ing sea­son, Louisiana wa­terthrushes often nest along streams in hilly de­cid­u­ous forests, in cy­press swamps, in bot­tom­land forests or in ravines and gorges near flow­ing water. Dur­ing win­ter­ing months, they nest along rivers and streams in hilly or moun­tain­ous areas from coastal north­ern Mex­ico and the Caribbean to ex­treme north­west­ern South Amer­ica. Louisiana wa­terthrushes have been known to dis­play an­nual fi­delity to both breed­ing and win­ter­ing sites. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; Bull and Far­rand Jr., 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Collins Jr., 1959; Rap­pole, 1995; Stotz, et al., 1996)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

• Wetlands
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

• Range elevation

  2300 (high) m

  7545.93 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Due to their ap­pear­ance, this species is com­monly re­ferred to as a 'wa­terthrush', al­though they are ac­tu­ally 'wood war­blers' by clas­si­fi­ca­tion. Louisiana wa­terthrushes have dark olive-brown up­per­parts, with a promi­nent, white su­per­cil­lium that ex­tends be­hind their eyes. Their un­der­parts are white with a slight buff wash on their flanks. Their breast, but not their neck, is darkly streaked. Their bill is dark, thin and pointed and their legs are pink­ish. They can grow up to 17 cm in length; with an av­er­age wingspan of around 25 cm. Hatch­lings are cov­ered in dark gray down. Their mouth is red and their gape flanges are yel­low. As hatch­lings age, they be­come iden­ti­cal to adults, al­though im­ma­ture birds may have buffy or rusty tips on their ter­tials, their tail feath­ers may be more pointed and they lack any white on their outer tail feath­ers. This species is often con­fused with north­ern wa­terthrushes, which have heav­ier streak­ing on their breasts and neck. Louisiana wa­terthrushes also tend to be bulkier and have a broader white su­per­cil­lium. (Alder­fer and Chartier, 2006; Baicich and Har­ri­son, 1997; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; Bull and Far­rand Jr., 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Collins Jr., 1959; Far­rand Jr., 1988; Rob­bins, et al., 1983; Sib­ley, 2000; Vuilleu­mier, 2009)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  18 to 25 g

  0.63 to 0.88 oz

• Average mass

  20.5 g

  0.72 oz

• Range length

  11.4 to 17.1 cm

  4.49 to 6.73 in

• Average length

  15.24 cm

  6.00 in

• Average wingspan

  25.4 cm

  10.00 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Louisiana wa­terthrushes are typ­i­cally monog­a­mous and are strictly soli­tary breed­ers. They may or may not have the same mates for mul­ti­ple breed­ing sea­sons. Dur­ing their ar­rival to the breed­ing ter­ri­to­ries, males sing ex­ces­sively. They typ­i­cally ar­rive at their breed­ing ter­ri­to­ries in mid- to late April or early May. When nest­ing starts, male singing stops but re­sumes at a low level after hatch­ing. Louisiana wa­terthrushes are ag­gres­sive in de­fend­ing their ter­ri­tory against con­specifics and ter­ri­to­ries rarely, if ever, are neigh­bor­ing. ("COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Louisiana wa­terthrushes pro­duce a sin­gle brood of 3 to 6 eggs each year. Eggs are sub-el­lip­ti­cal to short sub-el­lip­ti­cal in shape. They are smooth, slightly glossy and white or creamy-white in color, with brown or red­dish-brown speck­ling. Young hatch in 12 to 14 days and fledge at around 10 days. (Alder­fer and Chartier, 2006; Baicich and Har­ri­son, 1997; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Collins Jr., 1959)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Louisiana Waterthrushes breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Their breeding season occurs from April to June.

• Range eggs per season

  3 to 6

• Range time to hatching

  12 to 14 days

• Average fledging age

  10 days

• Average time to independence

  1 months

Louisiana wa­terthrushes nest from April to June. Nests are built by both male and fe­male birds in 4 to 6 days. Nests are often con­structed in small holes that birds gouge into stream banks. They may also nest in areas hid­den among ex­posed tree roots or in stump cav­i­ties. Holes are filled with leaves, moss and grass; the birds often leave a trail of leaves or grass at the front of the hole, usu­ally lead­ing to­ward the stream. Nests are gen­er­ally well con­cealed by roots and hang­ing veg­e­ta­tion and are usu­ally 0.5 to 4 m above the water sur­face. In­cu­ba­tion lasts about 12 to 14 days and is only per­formed by fe­males. Young are al­tri­cial and are tended by both the male and fe­male. At 10 days, young are de­vel­oped enough to leave the nest, how­ever, they still re­quire fur­ther parental care. After around 16 days, young can fly and after an ad­di­tional 7 days, they can feed them­selves. Fledged young re­main along their natal streams for about a month, after which, they wan­der pro­gres­sively far­ther (up to 5 km) away, un­at­tended by par­ents. (Alder­fer and Chartier, 2006; Baicich and Har­ri­son, 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• male parental care
• female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Louisiana wa­terthrushes ma­ture in a year and have a short lifes­pan, which is typ­i­cal of most small birds. Their av­er­age life span is about eight years. In gen­eral, the av­er­age an­nual sur­vival rate of North Amer­i­can wood war­blers is about 60%. ("COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Vuilleu­mier, 2009)

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  8 years

Be­hav­ior

Louisiana wa­terthrushes have sim­i­lar be­hav­ior pat­terns to north­ern wa­terthrushes. These birds often sing from branches and dur­ing flight. Both species also have a habit of bob­bing their tail, in a tee­ter­ing stance, par­tic­u­larly while search­ing for prey. This is a key be­hav­ioral char­ac­ter­is­tic of wa­terthrushes, as the genus name Seiu­rus means "tail-bob­ber". Louisiana wa­terthrushes walk along the for­est floor, rather than hop­ping. Dur­ing flight, they are fast, di­rect and slightly un­du­lat­ing with rapid wing beats. Dur­ing spring mi­gra­tion, Louisiana wa­terthrushes ar­rive much ear­lier to their north­ern range than north­ern wa­terthrushes. By mid-March, these birds typ­i­cally reach the Gulf Coast. By mid- to late April, they reach the Great Lakes re­gion. Typ­i­cally, mi­gra­tion is com­pleted by mid-May. Louisiana wa­terthrushes also begin their win­ter mi­gra­tion early. Louisiana wa­terthrushes may dis­play an­nual site fi­delity to both their win­ter­ing and breed­ing sites. Up to 50% of fe­males re­oc­cupy ter­ri­to­ries from the pre­vi­ous year, fre­quently with the same mate. These birds also tend to be ter­ri­to­r­ial. (Alder­fer and Chartier, 2006; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; Bull and Far­rand Jr., 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Collins Jr., 1959; Far­rand Jr., 1988; Rap­pole, 1995; Vuilleu­mier, 2009)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• fossorial
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  0.02 (high) km^2

Home Range

It has been es­ti­mated that the min­i­mum con­tigu­ous for­est cover re­quired to sus­tain a vi­able breed­ing pop­u­la­tion of Louisiana wa­terthrushes is about 100 ha (1 km^2), with each breed­ing pair re­quir­ing a max­i­mum ter­ri­tory size of 2 ha (0.02 km^2). Along stream courses, breed­ing ter­ri­to­ries are lin­ear. It has been es­ti­mated that each pair of Louisiana wa­terthrushes oc­cu­pied about 400 m of stream course. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; Bull and Far­rand Jr., 1997; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Rap­pole, 1995; Vuilleu­mier, 2009)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

This species' song be­gins with three or four high, clear, slurred whis­tles, fol­lowed by a se­ries of jum­bled and de­scend­ing chirps. They also have an al­ter­nate song that is sim­i­lar, but much longer and more ram­bling. Their call is a loud, strong spich sound. Males are typ­i­cally quiet dur­ing mi­gra­tion and nest build­ing. They are al­to­gether qui­eter than male north­ern wa­terthrushes, which begin singing dur­ing mi­gra­tion and con­tinue singing dur­ing nest build­ing and egg in­cu­ba­tion. (Bar­rett, et al., 1990; Sib­ley, 2000)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Louisiana wa­terthrushes are car­niv­o­rous birds, feed­ing pri­mar­ily on aquatic in­sects and in­sect lar­vae. How­ever, they do feed on other small aquatic an­i­mals such as mol­lusks, crus­taceans, small fish and am­phib­ians. They may also feed on ter­res­trial in­ver­te­brates, such as earth­worms, cater­pil­lars and chilopods. Dur­ing nest­ing sea­son, wa­terthrushes feed al­most en­tirely in and along streams. How­ever, they also for­age in stag­nant pools along swamp edges. While for­ag­ing, these birds flip over leaves, dis­lodg­ing their aquatic prey. Louisiana wa­terthrushes also pick into cran­nies, search­ing for in­sects and spi­ders, or for­age on float­ing de­bris. Like­wise, they may catch fly­ing in­sects, such as drag­on­flies and stone­flies, in mid-flight. Louisiana wa­terthrushes are fast feed­ers. They typ­i­cally per­form 10 or more feed­ing ma­neu­vers per minute. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Bar­rett, et al., 1990; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Matts­son, 2006; Vuilleu­mier, 2009)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore
  • insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods
  • molluscivore
  • vermivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• fish
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks
• terrestrial worms
• aquatic crustaceans

Pre­da­tion

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion avail­able on the pre­da­tion of Louisiana wa­terthrushes. Adults are likely preyed upon by small rap­tors, while eggs and nestlings are preyed upon by a va­ri­ety of snakes, small mam­mals and jays. ("COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Within their breed­ing and win­ter­ing ranges, Louisiana wa­terthrushes are likely ex­cel­lent bio-in­di­ca­tors for the health of head­wa­ter, medium-gra­di­ent and cold­wa­ter streams, as well as for in­tact, ma­ture de­cid­u­ous forested swamps. This is be­cause Louisiana wa­terthrushes are for­est-in­te­rior, mi­gra­tory birds that re­quire streams for food and nest­ing sites. Ad­di­tion­ally, brown-headed cow­birds com­monly par­a­sitize nests of Louisiana wa­terthrushes. ("COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Matts­son, 2006)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Louisiana wa­terthrushes are ex­cel­lent bioindi­ca­tors of stream health and qual­ity. They also feed on in­sects that may be re­garded as pests to hu­mans. ("COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Matts­son, 2006)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Cur­rently, there are no known neg­a­tive eco­nomic im­pacts of Louisiana wa­terthrushes on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Re­ported de­clines of Louisiana wa­terthrushes have been long term (greater than twenty years) and are likely to con­tinue in the fu­ture. Be­cause they have re­stricted and spe­cial­ized habi­tat re­quire­ments for their breed­ing and win­ter­ing grounds, these birds are sen­si­tive to changes in habi­tat qual­ity and quan­tity. Their largest threat is habi­tat loss, par­tic­u­larly due to moun­tain­top re­moval-val­ley fill coal min­ing in the south­ern Ap­palachian Moun­tains. In this min­ing process, the en­tire moun­tain­top is re­moved and the waste rock is dumped into stream val­leys. From 1985 to 2001, 724 miles of stream were buried due to this min­ing process and an ad­di­tional 1,200 miles of streams had de­graded water qual­ity. This min­ing process also in­creases edge ef­fects as the in­te­rior for­est habi­tat is re­duced by up to 5 times the acreage ac­tu­ally cleared. Edge ef­fects are dam­ag­ing to Louisiana wa­terthrushes as they are gen­er­ally an in­te­rior for­est species. Log­ging of old growth forests also re­duces Louisiana wa­terthrushes' habi­tat. Ad­di­tional threats in­clude re­duced in­sect prey caused by var­i­ous fac­tors that in­crease stream tur­bid­ity, water con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, re­duc­tions in water sup­ply, cli­mate change and in­creased num­bers of nest preda­tors and par­a­sites as­so­ci­ated with human en­croach­ment and habi­tat frag­men­ta­tion. Pro­tec­tion for Louisiana wa­terthrushes is af­forded through the Mi­gra­tory Birds Con­ven­tion Act. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Leb­bin, et al., 2010; Rap­pole, 1995; "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species", 2013; "Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Leb­bin, et al., 2010; Rap­pole, 1995; "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species", 2013; "Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; Leb­bin, et al., 2010; Rap­pole, 1995; "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species", 2013; "Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; Leb­bin, et al., 2010; Rap­pole, 1995; "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species", 2013)

Under their sci­en­tific name, Seiu­rus motacilla, Louisiana wa­terthrushes are not listed on the IUCN Red List of En­dan­gered Species. How­ever, under their syn­onym, Parke­sia motacilla, they are listed as a species of 'least con­cern'. In their Cana­dian ter­ri­tory, Louisiana wa­terthrushes are listed as a species of 'spe­cial con­cern'. This des­ig­na­tion is based on their small pop­u­la­tion (be­tween 105 and 195 breed­ing pairs); how­ever, they have re­mained sta­ble over the past two decades and im­mi­gra­tion from the United States still oc­curs. ("Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model", 2002; "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus", 2006; "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species", 2013)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern

• US Migratory Bird Act

  Protected

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  Threatened

Con­trib­u­tors

Tracy Tem­plin (au­thor), Min­nesota State Uni­ver­sity, Mankato, Robert Sorensen (ed­i­tor), Min­nesota State Uni­ver­sity, Mankato, Leila Si­cil­iano Mar­tina (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

COSEWIC. 2006. "COSEWIC as­sess­ment and up­date sta­tus re­port on the Louisiana Wa­terthrush Seiu­rus" (On-line pdf). Ac­cessed March 26, 2013 at http://​dsp-psd.​pwgsc.​gc.​ca/​Collection/​CW69-14-17-2006E.​pdf.

State of Michi­gan. 2013. "De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources Wildlife Di­vi­sion En­dan­gered and Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources. Ac­cessed March 27, 2013 at http://​www.​michigan.​gov/​dnr/​0,4570,7-153-10370_12141_12168---,00.​html.

2002. "Louisiana Wa­terthrush Habi­tat Model" (On-line). U.S. Fish & Wildlife Ser­vice. Ac­cessed March 27, 2013 at http://​www.​fws.​gov/​r5gomp/​gom/​habitatstudy/​metadata2/​louisiana_​waterthrush_​model.​htm.

Alder­fer, J., A. Chartier. 2006. Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Com­plete Birds of North Amer­ica. Wash­ing­ton, D.C.: Na­tional Ge­o­graphic So­ci­ety.

Baicich, P., C. Har­ri­son. 1997. A Guide to the Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North Amer­i­can Birds - 2nd Edi­tion. San Diego, CA: Aca­d­e­mic Press.

Bar­rett, N., C. Bern­stien, R. Brown, J. Con­nor, K. Dun­ham, P. Dunne, J. Far­rand Jr., D. Hopes, K. Kauf­man, N. Lavers, M. Leis­ter, R. Marsi, W. Pe­tersen, J. Pier­son, A. Pis­to­rius, J. Toups. 1990. Book of North Amer­i­can Birds. Pleas­antvelle, N.Y: The Reader's Di­gest As­so­ci­a­tion, Inc.

Birdlife In­ter­na­tional, 2012. "Parke­sia motacilla" (On-line). IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed March 22, 2013 at www.​iucnredlist.​org.

Bull, J., J. Far­rand Jr.. 1997. Na­tional Audubon So­ci­ety Field Guide to North Amer­i­can Birds - East­ern Re­gion. New York, N.Y: Al­fred A. Knopf, Inc.

Collins Jr., H. 1959. Com­plete Field Guide to North Amer­i­can Wildlife - East­ern Edi­tion. New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, Pub­lish­ers, Inc.

Eck­ert, K. 2002. A Birder's Guide to Min­nesota. Du­luth, MN: Ga­vian Guides.

Far­rand Jr., J. 1988. East­ern Birds. New York, N.Y: Chan­ti­cleer Press, Inc.

Leb­bin, D., M. Parr, G. Fen­wick. 2010. The Amer­i­can Bird Con­ser­vancy Guide to Bird Con­ser­va­tion. Chicago, IL: The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Matts­son, B., T. Mas­ter, R. Mul­vi­hill, W. Robin­son. 2009. "Louisiana Wa­terthrush (Parke­sia motacilla)" (On-line). The Birds of North Amer­ica On­line. Ac­cessed March 22, 2013 at http://​bna.​birds.​cornell.​edu/​bna/​species/​151.

Matts­son, B. 2006. Louisiana Wa­terthrush Ecol­ogy and Con­ser­va­tion in the Geor­gia Pied­mont. Grad­u­ate Fac­ulty of The Uni­ver­sity of Geor­gia, 1: 1-147.

Rap­pole, J. 1995. The Ecol­ogy of Mi­grant Birds. Wash­ing­ton, D.C.: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Schol­arly Press.

Rob­bins, C., B. Bruun, H. Zim. 1983. Birds of North Amer­ica. New York, N.Y.: Golden Press.

Sib­ley, D. 2000. Na­tional Audubon So­ci­ety: The Sib­ley Guide to Birds. New York, N.Y.: Al­fred A. Knopf, Inc.

Stotz, D., J. Fitz­patrick, T. Parker III, D. Moskovits. 1996. Neotrop­i­cal Birds Ecol­ogy and Con­ser­va­tion. Chicago, IL: The Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Vuilleu­mier, F. 2009. Birds of North Amer­ica. New York, NY: DK Pub­lish­ing.