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.
Chats are a group of small Old World insectivorous birds formerly classified as members of the thrush family (Turdidae), but following genetic DNA analysis, are now considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae).
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 whistling thrushes comprise a genus Myophonus of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director.
The blackstart is a chat found in desert regions in North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. It is resident throughout its range.
Brachypteryx is a genus of passerine birds in the family Muscicapidae containing ten species known as shortwings, that occurs in southeast Asia.
The diademed tanager is a species of Neotropical bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Stephanophorus. It is purple-blue with a white crown characterised by a small red patch, and it is found mostly in open areas in southern Brazil, northeast Argentina, and Uruguay.
Emberizoides is a small genus of finch-like tanagers found in grassy areas in Central and South America.
The Bornean ground cuckoo is a large terrestrial species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is, as suggested by its common name, endemic to the island of Borneo, being found in the sections belonging to Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is restricted to humid forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Sumatran ground cuckoo.
The western bearded greenbul is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in West Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Ixos is a genus of passerine birds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae.
The black-masked finch is a species of South American bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Coryphaspiza. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The white-crowned forktail is a species of forktail in the family Muscicapidae. Formally described in 1818, it has five subspecies, each occupying a different geographic range. The largest of the forktails, Enicurus leschenaulti, is between 25 and 28 centimetres long. It has a black throat and breast, black mantle, and largely black wings. The rump and lower back are white, and the bird has a prominent white crown, from which it gets its name. As with other forktails, the tail is long, deeply forked, and banded in black and white. A variety of whistling and clicking calls have been described. Slight morphological differences have been observed between subspecies.
The Sunda forktail is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to Indonesia, where it is restricted to the islands of Java and Sumatra. Its natural habitat is boulder strewn streams in tropical moist montane forest from 600–2000 m. More rarely the species occurs closer to sea level. The species is common in Sumatra, but is rarer in Java, where the white-crowned forktail is more common.
The black-winged flycatcher-shrike is a species of bird in the flycatcher-shrike genus, Hemipus. It is usually placed in the Vangidae. It is found in the Malay Peninsula and the Greater Sunda Islands. Its natural habitats are lowland forests and sometimes swamps and mangroves. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern.
The orange-backed woodpecker is a bird in the woodpecker family Picidae, found in southern Thailand, Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia, Brunei, Sumatra, and Java. It is monotypic in the genus Reinwardtipicus. It is a forest specialist that is found primarily in the canopy.
Picumnus is a large genus of piculets. With a total length of 8–10 cm (3–4 in), they are among the smallest birds in the woodpecker family. All species are found in the Neotropics except the speckled piculet that has a wide distribution in China, India and Southeast Asia.
Van Hasselt's sunbird, is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is found in Northeast India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.
The Bornean forktail is a small, black and white bird, with a long and deeply forked tail, in the Old World flycatcher family. It is endemic to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo, where it occupies streamside habitats in montane primary forest.
