A large (6 inches) wood warbler, the Louisiana Waterthrush is most easily identified by its brown back and wings, whitish breast streaked with brown, and conspicuous white eye stripe. This species is physically similar to the related Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis), although that species is typically darker yellow and more streaked below and on the face. Male and female Louisiana Waterthrushes are similar to one another in all seasons. The Louisiana Waterthrush breeds across the eastern United States and southern Canada, being more or less absent from the southeastern coastal plain, upper New England, and parts of the Midwest. In winter, this species is found in the southern half of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Many birds fly across the Gulf of Mexico twice a year while on migration. Louisiana Waterthrushes breed in a variety of woodland habitats along the edges of streams and creeks. In winter, this species is found in similar streamside areas in humid tropical forests. Unusually for a warbler, Louisiana Waterthrushes primarily eat aquatic invertebrates, including insects and larvae. Along streams in appropriate habitat, Louisiana Waterthrushes may be seen walking on the shoreline or wading in shallow water while foraging for food. This species’ characteristic tail wagging behavior, in which the rear half of the body is flicked up and down almost constantly while the bird is in motion, is highly unusual among wood warblers. Louisiana Waterthrushes are primarily active during the day, but, like many migratory songbirds, this species migrates at night.

Threat Status: Least concern

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

Global Range: BREEDING: eastern Nebraska, southern Great Lakes region (including southern Ontario and perhaps rarely in southwestern Quebec), and New England south to eastern Texas, Gulf states, northern Florida, and South Carolina (Robinson 1995, AOU 1998). NON-BREEDING: southern Sonora, southern Nuevo Leon, and southwestern Tamaulipas south through Mexico (generally absent from Yucatan peninsula) and Central America into northern and western Colombia and northwestern Venezuela; also from southern Florida and Bahamas throughout West Indies (fairly common in Puerto Rico, uncommon in Virgin Islands) (Robinson 1995, AOU 1998)

Length: 15 cm

Weight: 21 grams

• Terrestrial
• Freshwater

Comments: BREEDING: Moist forest, woodland, and ravines along streams; mature deciduous and mixed floodplain and swamp forests. Prefers areas with moderate to sparse undergrowth (Prosser and Brooks 1998) near rapid-flowing water of hill and mountain streams. Ground dweller. Nests on the ground along stream banks, hidden in the underbrush or among the roots of fallen trees, in crevices or raised sites in tree roots, or in rock walls of ravines over water (Harrison 1978, Bushman and Therres 1988).

NON-BREEDING: In migration and winter also in riparian woodland, scrub and thickets, generally near running water; avoids extensive openings and still water (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Arrives in Puerto Rico in September (some birds as early as August), remains through April-May (Raffaele 1983). Arrives in Costa Rica early to mid-August, departs by mid-April (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Comments: Eats primarily aquatic insects, also small mollusks, killifishes, minnows (Terres 1980), and salamanders (Mulvihill et al. 1999). Forages mostly on or near the ground along streams or in damp or wet stream beds. NON-BREEDING: In Jamaica, feeds while standing on rocks beside or in water. In lowlands, confined to rocks near running water; at higher elevations, may forage also on mud and beside standing water (Lack 1976). In Trinidad, forages on mud among mangroves, on floor of dry lowland forest, and beside rocky streams in montane forest (Lack 1976).

Maintains foraging territory in winter (Stiles and Skutch 1989, Rappole and Warner 1980). In Mexico, commonly returns to the same winter territory in successive years (Rappole and Warner 1980).

Clutch size is four-six (usually five). Incubation by female lasts 14-16 days; sometimes less than 14 days (Robinson 1995). Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at about ten days, can fly at six days after leaving nest, begin feeding on own at about seven days after leaving nest. One brood per year. Breeds earlier in year than most other warblers (April-June) (Robinson 1995).

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N3B - Vulnerable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5B - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Comments: Potential threats include forest fragmentation and activities that cause reductions in forest canopy cover or negatively impact aquatic insect communities. In Western Pennsylvania and throughout the Appalachian region, streams are affected by acid precipitation and acid discharge from countless mines (Mulvihill et al. 1997). The low pH reduces food availability.

Restoration Potential: Local declines not statistically significant, and expansion of northern range limit suggest no immediate need for restoration.

Preserve Selection and Design Considerations: Essential habitat includes large (probably greater than 100 hectares) tracts of mature, deciduous and deciduous-mixed forest along ravines with running water; secondary habitat is characterized by mature, deciduous swamp forest with standing pools of water; generally a forest interior species (McCraken 1991). Headwater streams and wetlands of high water quality and well developed pool and riffle complexes are important (Prosser and Brooks 1998). Fallen trees with exposed root masses and riparian banks with abundant crevices are preferred nest sites. Species often absent in highly fragmented landscapes, and where sediments from agricultural and urban landscapes have negatively affected water quality and stream substrates. Surdick (1995) found that most foraging sites had close to three times more surface area of exposed rock than the territory average. In northeastern U.S. where range overlaps with northern waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis), tends to select sites with faster flowing water (Craig 1981, 1985). Also breeds in cypress swamps and bottomland forest along mud-bottomed streams, but in lower densities than upland forest (Graber et al. 1983).

Management Requirements: Wooded streambanks and ravines should be protected. Maintain areas of thicker cover well away from the stream (more than 50 meters) for use during the post-fledging stage (Mulvihill, pers. comm.).

Management Research Needs: Little information is currently available on habitat use, behavior, and population ecology in the wintering range. Population and migration ecology and effects of brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) parasitism also need to be further studied (Robinson 1995).

Biological Research Needs: May be a good candidate for conceptual studies. Stream-dwelling populations have long, linear territories that may help elucidate central place foraging theory (Orians and Pearson 1979). In southern Illinois, nests are often placed far from main foraging areas, suggesting that avoidance of predation may be more important than foraging economics in determining nest-site selection (Robinson 1995). Also, it is an excellent indicator of healthy forested riparian ecosystems in the eastern U.S. (D. Prosser et al., unpubl. data). Being a top predator and the only obligate avian species of this ecosystem, it is an ideal calibrator for an index of headwater ecosystems (Brooks et al. 1998).

Stewardship Overview: Fairly common resident of headwater riparian woodlands, rocky streams, swamps and scrub, thickets and ravines near streams in much of the eastern and mid-western U.S., less common in the Gulf Coastal Plain, somewhat rare in southern Georgia and Florida. Main threats are loss and degradation of headwater riparian habitat, due to agriculture, logging, acid pollution (acid mine drainage and/or acid deposition, especially in the central Appalachians), and urbanization. Frequent brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) host in some regions, but rarely parasitized (less than 10 percent of nests) in Pennsylvania based on recent studies (Mulvihill et al. 1997; Mulvihill, pers. comm.). Management should focus on protecting core wooded riparian habitat, including establishment or maintenance of a buffer strip of undisturbed riparian forest cover at least 100 meters wide (50 meters each side), and preservation and improvement of water quality to ensure aquatic insect biomass and diversity.

Comments: Formerly (AOU 1983, 1998) placed in the genus Seiurus; transferred to Parkesia by AOU (2010).