Despite being a bright, colorful bird, the Yellow-breasted Chat is hardly seen because it’s very good at hiding in the low brushy habitat that it favors. Skulking and secretive are two words commonly used to describe it. But those who look carefully are rewarded with the sight of a spectacular olive and yellow wood warbler. The Yellow-breasted Chat distributes widely across the United States – the experts describe both Eastern and Western varieties. From our perspective at Audubon California, we’d like to see more of them in the Central Valley where much of the birds’ preferred habitat has been lost. As we work with farmers to restore streamside habitat and hedgerows, we’re often thinking specifically of the Yellow-breasted Chat. Anyway, this bird spends its winters in southern Mexico and Central America and comes up in the spring. As you can see from the eBird maps below the fold, it’s starting to turn up a lot in California this month (photo by Peter LaTourrette):

As you can see, eBird didn't record a lot of sightings in March:

At this point in April, however, they're starting to turn up in greater numbers: