The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycatchers. Thrushes are small to medium-sized ground living birds that feed on insects, other invertebrates, and fruit. Some unrelated species around the world have been named after thrushes due to their similarity to birds in this family.
The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska.
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World, with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat and northern wheatear, found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family is relatively large and includes 351 species, which are divided into 54 genera.
The rock thrushes, Monticola, are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. All are Old World birds, and most are associated with mountainous regions.
Alethe is a genus of small mainly insectivorous birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in West Africa.
The whistling thrushes comprise a genus Myophonus of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
The scrub robins or bush chats are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genus Cercotrichas. They were formerly considered to be in the thrush family, (Turdidae), but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, (Muscicapidae). They are not closely related to the Australian scrub-robins, genus Drymodes in the family Petroicidae.
Luscinia is a genus of smallish passerine birds, containing the nightingales and relatives. Formerly classed as members of the thrush family Turdidae, they are now considered to be Old World flycatchers (Muscicapidae) of the chat subfamily (Saxicolinae). The chats are a lineage of Old World flycatchers that has evolved convergently to thrushes.
Brachypteryx is a genus of passerine birds in the family Muscicapidae containing ten species known as shortwings, that occurs in southeast Asia.
The mountain wheatear or mountain chat is a small insectivorous passerine bird that is endemic to southwestern Africa.
The sombre rock chat is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Ethiopia and Somalia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
The brown-tailed rock chat is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
The purple cochoa is a brightly coloured bird found in the temperate forests of Asia. It is a quiet and elusive bird species that has been considered to be related to the thrushes of family Turdidae or the related Muscicapidae. They are found in dark forested areas and is found in the canopy, where it often sits motionless.
The green cochoa is a bird species that was variously placed with the thrushes of family Turdidae or the related Muscicapidae. It is considered closer to the former.
Phoenicurus is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are named redstarts from their orange-red tails. They are small insectivores, the males mostly brightly coloured in various combinations of red, blue, white, and black, the females light brown with a red tail. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 led to a reorganization of the Old World flycatchers family in which the two species in Rhyacornis and the single species in Chaimarrornis were merged into Phoenicurus.
The Anthipes flycatchers are a genus of Old World flycatchers.
Chamaetylas is a genus of small, mainly insectivorous birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that are native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Emarginata is a genus of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae that occur in southern Africa.
Myadestinae are a subfamily of passerine birds in the family Turdidae. Members of this group have been noted by ornithologists to be rather unusual in that they lack the typical diagnostic traits seen in the "true" thrushes of the sister subfamily Turdinae. Examples of including the lack syringeal morphology seen in turdines and the feeding ecology of myadestines being similar to those of Old World flycatchers. A 2005 molecular study from Klicka et al. found support in a basal clade consisting of the genera Sialia, Neocossyphus, Stizorhina, and Myadestes to be sister to the rest of the thrushes. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the Serravallian.
Turdinae are a subfamily of passerine birds in the family Turdidae. They are the sister clade to the subfamily Myadestinae. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the Serravallian. Within the turdines they can split into three subgroups: Zoothera occupying a basal position, the second consisting of forest thrush genera and the remaining group closer to Turdus.
