This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

This song belongs to one of the two waterthrushes that can be found in Illinois during spring migration. These are the brown-backed, water-loving warblers that teeter their rear up and down as they forage in flooded woodlands and along the muddy banks of streams. This waterthrush has more pinkish legs and the feathers in their bold eyebrow and behind the brown streaks on their chest, are a clean white. This is the Louisiana Waterthrush.

Of the two waterthrushes, the Louisiana arrives first in the spring, so a bird found in late April or May is probably a northern, while one found before is probably a Louisiana. While the two birds are very similar in appearance, their calls are quite different…the northern’s is staccato and ends as if saying “chew” “chew” “chew” while the Louisiana’s starts with a slurred whistle and ends in a jumble. And here it is again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW