Chat (bird)

This article is about the Old World chats; see below for other birds called "chats".

Chats
Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Subfamily: Saxicolinae
Genera

About 30, see text.

Chats (formerly sometimes known as "chat-thrushes") are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classified as members of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered Old World flycatchers.

The name is normally applied to the more robust ground-feeding flycatchers found in Europe and Asia and most northern species are strong migrants. There are a large number of genera and these birds in particular make up most of the subfamily Saxicolinae.

Other songbirds called "chats" are:

  • Australian chats, genera Ashbyia and Epthianura of the honeyeater family (Meliphagidae). They belong to a more ancient lineage than Saxicolinae.
  • American chats, genus Granatellus of the cardinal family (Cardinalidae), formerly placed in the wood-warbler family. They belong to a more modern lineage than Saxicolinae.
  • Yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens), an enigmatic North American songbird tentatively placed in the wood-warbler family (Parulidae); its true relationships are unresolved.

Species in taxonomic order

Saxicolinae genera not usually called "chats" are:

Aberrant redstarts, possibly belonging in this subfamily:

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