Black-throated Thrush
Turdus atrogularis
A dark, somberly-colored thrush of middle to high-altitude forests. Usually winters at higher elevations, but will occasionally move into foothill and lowland areas as well. Male is unmistakable, with a gray back, white belly, and a pitch-black throat and chest. Females are streaky brown below and may be confused with Red-throated Thrush, but Black-throated females do not show orange on the throat or the sides of the tail; the only warm colors on either bird are the orangish underwings. In areas of overlap, beware hybrids that may show features of both species. Song consists of various repeated phrases; call includes a low “chekchekchek” and high, thin “tseee.”
Identification
This is a large and distinctive thrush. The male has black from the chin to the breast with a greyish black tail. The upperparts are grey and the underparts are whitish with orange-red underwing coverts. Females and immatures are similar but the black on the throat and breast is replaced with dusky streaking.
Taxonomy
The scientific name comes from Latin. Turdus is "thrush" and the specific atrogularis is derived from ater, "black", and gula, "throat". Formerly considered conspecific with the red-throated thrush T. ruficollis but now considered a separate species.
- Scientific name
- Turdus atrogularis
- Authority
- Jarocki, 1819
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Turdidae
- Genus
- Turdus
Range and habitat
The breeding range of the black-throated thrush extends from the extreme east of Europe to Western Siberia and north-west Mongolia. The wintering range extends from the Middle East, although uncommon in the Arabian Peninsula to eastern Myanmar. As a vagrant it has occurred in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan as well as to most of Europe west of its normal range. Black-throated thrushes breed along the edges of clearings in coniferous or mixed deciduous forest, often in the undergrowth of Siberian Pine Pinus sibirica or mixed spruce fir forest, especially along watercourses or in swampy areas.
- Breeding range
- PAL : wc Russia to nc Siberia and nw Mongolia
- Non-breeding range
- sw, s Asia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Breeds solitarily or in loose aggregations of pairs in late May through to late July. The nest is made of grasses and thin twigs bound with earth and lined with fine grasses, moss or lichens. The nest is usually placed within 1.5 to 2m of the ground, sometimes on the ground. Otherwise the behaviour is similar to that of the fieldfare T. pilaris. In winter often found in large flocks with other thrushes such as Tickell's thrush T. unicolor, eye-browed thrush T. obscurus and mistle thrush T. viscivorus, on migration often with dusky thrush. Roosts in dense evergreen vegetation. Feeds on the ground on invertebrates and also feeds on various berries, cherries and some seeds.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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