Japanese Thrush
Turdus cardis
Elusive thrush, seldom seen far from cover. Favors well-shaded streamsides, gullies, and valleys in broadleaf hill forests during the breeding season, but can be found in sparser habitats in the non-breeding season. Adult male sharply marked and beautiful if seen well, combining coal-black upperparts with a snow-white belly punctuated with dark speckles. Immature male gray above, belly tinged orange. Female medium brown above with white underparts marked with both dark speckles and an orange suffusion; can be confused with female Gray-backed Thrush, but dark markings in Japanese extend to lower belly (restricted to the throat in Gray-backed). Rich, lengthy song often very repetitive.
Identification
The Japanese thrush (Turdus cardis) is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. The species is also known as the grey thrush or the Japanese grey thrush. The species was once split into two subspecies, with birds breeding in China being treated as the subspecies T. c. lateus,, but today differences are attributed to natural variation and the species is treated as being monotypic. The Japanese thrush is migratory. It breeds in central China and Japan, arriving in Japan by April or May; it winters in coastal southern China (including Hainan) and northern Laos and Vietnam leaving its breeding grounds around October. It occasionally turns up as a passage migrant in Taiwan, and has been vagrant in Thailand. The species is usually found in forests and woodlands, either deciduous or mixed deciduous and coniferous in its breeding habitat, but also secondary forest and even gardens and parks. The Japanese thrush is a mid-sized thrush. The two sexes have different plumage (sexual dimorphism). The male has a black head, breast, back, wings and tail, and a white underside with black spots in the upper belly and flanks. The legs, bill and thin eye-ring are yellow. The female is brown above and has a white throat, breast and belly, washed with rusty orange on the flanks and black spots. The Japanese thrush feeds on the ground, scratching through leaf-litter to find insects and earthworms. It will also take fruit. It lays 2-5 eggs in a nest made of twigs and moss, bound with mud and lined with hair and rootlets. The eggs are incubated for 12–13 days and the chick nestling period is 14 days. The species double broods (raising two broods a season), with the female laying a new clutch soon after the first brood fledges.
Taxonomy
Genus: Turdus; Family: Turdidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Turdus cardis
- Authority
- Temminck, 1831
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Turdidae
- Genus
- Turdus
Range and habitat
Breeding range: PAL : c China and Hokkaido to Kyushu (n to s Japan). Non-breeding range: se Asia and se China.
- Breeding range
- PAL : c China and Hokkaido to Kyushu (n to s Japan)
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia and se China
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Speckled Chachalaca
Ortalis guttata
Large chickenlike bird, but smaller than guans and curassows. Plain brown with a scaly neck and head, and bare red skin on throat that can be difficult to see. Most commonly found in forest edge habitats, including along rivers and around agricultural areas. Loud, raucous calls are often heard around dawn and dusk, when the calls of one individual often initiate a chorus of calls from other chachalacas in the area.
Gray-throated Leaftosser
Sclerurus albigularis
Shy forest denizen, found on the ground. Rummages through leaf litter on the forest floor. Fairly small and plump, with a slightly decurved bill and short tail. Body is warm rufous-brown, which contrasts with the gray throat. Sexes alike. Difficult to see; more often heard: listen for a short series of ascending squeaky whistles, sometimes followed by a more rapid chatter.
Black-headed Antbird
Percnostola rufifrons
Medium-sized, stocky bird of forest understory. Shows substantial geographic variation in plumage, but males are always black and dark gray, females rufous and gray-brown. Both sexes show thin wingbars: white in males, rufous-buff in females. Eastern populations (Guianas and NE Brazil) have striking red eyes; those of more western subspecies are gray. Found in tall rainforest and in lower-stature forests on sandy soils, usually in pairs or small groups that often follow army ants but are just as likely to be seen away from them, searching deliberately for insects in low vegetation. Not especially shy but often assesses observers warily from dense cover, pumping tail and giving low churring calls similar to other antbirds. Song is a series of clear, whistled notes on one pitch, with some geographic variation in pace; most common call is a sharp bark, similar to call of Black-faced Antthrush. In dim forest light, male may be confused with Spot-winged Antbird; Black-headed is best distinguished by wing bars (not spots), stockier profile, and vocalizations.
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