Wood Thrush | |
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File:Woodthrush79.jpg | |
Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | Hylocichla |
Species: | H. mustelina
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Binomial name | |
Hylocichla mustelina | |
Synonyms | |
Catharus mustelinus |
The Wood Thrush, Hylocichla mustelina, is a medium-sized thrush, the only member of the genus Hylocichla. It is closely related to the typical American thrushes of the genus Catharus. It is sometimes merged into Catharus and was considered close to the long-distance migrant species of that genus, as opposed to the generally resident nightingale-thrushes, but this has been shown to be erroneous (Winker & Pruett, 2006).
The adult is 18.5 cm long and weighs 48 g. It is mainly brown on the upperparts, and rusty brown on the crown, nape and upper back. The underparts are white with black spots. It has a white eye ring and pink legs. It has a rich multi-part flute-like song.
The breeding habitat is deciduous or mixed woods across eastern North America. The nest is a cup in a fork or on a tree branch relatively close to the ground.
Wood Thrushes migrate to southern Mexico and Central America. They occur in western Europe only as extremely rare vagrants.
They mainly forage on the forest floor, flipping leaves to uncover insects. They eat insects and berries.
This bird's breeding range has expanded northward, displacing the Veery and Hermit Thrush in some locations. In recent times, as a result of fragmentation of forests, it has been increasingly exposed to nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds, as well as loss of habitat in the winter range.
The Wood Thrush is the official bird of the District of Columbia.
References
- Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
- Winker, Kevin & Pruett, Christin L. (2006): Seasonal migration, speciation, and morphological convergence in the avian genus Catharus (Turdidae). Auk 123(4): 1052-1068. [Article in English with Spanish abstract] DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123[1052:SMSAMC]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
External Links
- Wood Thrush - Hylocichla mustelina - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Wood Thrush Information - South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Wood Thrush Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Song of Summer - incomparable music of the Wood Thrush