Episode 49: Louisiana Waterthrush – Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

A warbler of the water’s edge, be that edge on a bubbling steam, flowing springtime brook, or flooded riverside woodland. It is a bolt of brown and white with a surprisingly aggressive demeanor; ready to defend its territory and hunting space from interlopers in the flash of a wing. Its most notable behavior is the habitual semi-circular pumping up and down of its tail as it hops and flutters about a muddy shoreline searching for aquatic arthropods.

This is the Louisiana waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) from the family of the wood-warblers, Parulidae
The song of the louisiana waterthrush ends with a flourish but it starts with a repeating preface; “weeyou weeyou weeyou”. Its plumage is somewhat dull compared to many other warblers, but its bold white eyebrow is nonetheless handsome and its pinkish legs cute.

The Louisiana waterthrush has a sibling that, while sounding very different, looks almost identical - the northern waterthrush. While these two species will eventually settle down to breed in largely isolated ranges, during migration they can both be seen in illinois - I will eventually do a comparison episode between the two birds, but for now just know this: the Louisiana waterthrush, the focus of this episode, is the first of the two to migrate in the spring, so a bird found in March or very early April will generally be a louisiana. The northern won’t arrive until about mid april. Here’s the Louisiana waterthrush again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new wild voice with Illinois Extension.