Mountain thrush | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Turdidae |
Genus: | Turdus |
Species: | T. plebejus |
Binomial name | |
Turdus plebejus Cabanis, 1861 | |
The mountain thrush (Turdus plebejus) is a large thrush which is found in Central America. It was formerly known as the mountain robin. Some authorities refer to it as the American mountain thrush to differentiate it from the Abyssinian thrush (Turdus abyssinicus), known in their taxonomy as the African mountain thrush. [2]
The mountain thrush resembles other Turdus thrushes in general appearance and habits. It is 23–26 cm (9.1–10.2 in) long and weighs 86 g (3.0 oz) on average. The adult is uniformly dull olive-brown with faint white streaks on the throat. The bill is black and the legs are dark brown. The juvenile resembles the adult, but has buff or orange streaks on the head and upperparts, and dark spotting on the underparts. Two superficially similar relatives share this species range: the sooty thrush is blacker with an orange bill, eye ring and legs, and the clay-colored thrush is much paler and yellow-billed.
There are three poorly defined subspecies:
This is a bird of tall mountain forests and adjacent more open areas and woodland edge which breeds in highlands from southern Mexico to western Panama. Its preference is for oak with many epiphytes and mosses, normally from 1,800 m (5,900 ft) altitude to the timberline. It descends in flocks as low as 900 m (3,000 ft) in the wet season.
The mountain thrush behaves like other thrushes. It forages on large branches or on the ground, in flocks when not breeding, progressing in hops and dashes with frequent stops. It turns leaf litter seeking small fruits, insects and spiders.
It builds a grass or rootlet-lined large cup nest, concealed amongst epiphytes, 3–12 m (9.8–39.4 ft) above the ground on a tree branch. The female lays 2–3 unmarked greenish-blue eggs between March and June. The breeding season song is an unthrushlike mechanical monotone chip chip cher chip chip cher cher, and the call is a high seee or whip.
The cocoa woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The buffy tuftedcheek or Lawrence's tuftedcheek is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.
The black-billed nightingale-thrush is a small thrush endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. Its position in the genus Catharus is somewhat equivocal, but it is apparently closer to the hermit thrush than to the other nightingale-thrushes except the russet nightingale-thrush and/or the ruddy-capped nightingale-thrush.
The black-faced solitaire is a bird in the thrush family endemic to highlands in Costa Rica and western Panama.
The ochraceous wren is a small songbird of the wren family. It is a resident breeding species in Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia.
The ruddy woodcreeper is a passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found from southern Mexico to northern Colombia and extreme northern Venezuela.
The spot-crowned woodcreeper, is a passerine bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. it is found in Middle America from Mexico to Panama.
The streak-headed woodcreeper is a passerine bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, and on Trinidad.
The streak-breasted treehunter is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.
The ruddy treerunner is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.
The hepatic tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of the genus Piranga are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae).
The scaly-throated foliage-gleaner, also known as the spectacled foliage-gleaner, is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Mexico, in every Central American country except Nicaragua, and in Colombia and Ecuador.
The brown-billed scythebill is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
The black-banded woodcreeper is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found discontinuously from Chiapas, Mexico, to Panama and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The lineated foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
The white-throated thrush is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in Mexico and Central America, ranging south to central Panama. This species has been referred to in some literature as "white-throated robin." However, that name is now more usually applied to the Old World species Irania gutturalis.
The spotted woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
The ivory-billed woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
The Tibetan blackbird is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. It is found in the Himalayas from northern Pakistan to southeastern Tibet. Originally described as a separate species by Henry Seebohm in 1881, it was then considered a subspecies of the common blackbird until 2008, when phylogenetic evidence revealed that it was only distantly related to the latter species. It is a relatively large thrush, having an overall length of 23–28 centimetres. Males are blackish-brown all over with darker plumage on the head, breast, wings and tail and dull orange-yellow bills, while females have browner underparts, faint streaking on the throat, and a dull darkish yellow bill. Both sexes may seem slightly hooded. It can be differentiated from the common blackbird by its complete lack of an eye-ring and reduced song.
The sooty thrush is a large thrush endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. It was formerly known as the sooty robin.