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 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 cochoas are medium-sized frugivorous, insectivorous and molluscivorous birds in the genus Cochoa. Their bright contrasting plumage patterns, sexual dimorphism and feeding habits made their systematic position difficult to ascertain in early times, Richard Bowdler Sharpe placed them with the Prionopidae in 1879 while many considered them as some kind of aberrant thrush. The genus was previously included in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that it is more closely related to the thrush family Turdidae.
The puff-throated babbler or spotted babbler is a species of passerine bird found in Asia. They are found in scrub and moist forest mainly in hilly regions. They forage in small groups on the forest floor, turning around leaf litter to find their prey and usually staying low in the undergrowth where they can be hard to spot. However, they have loud and distinct calls, including a morning song, contact and alarm calls. It is the type species of the genus Pellorneum which may, however, currently include multiple lineages.
The Malabar whistling thrush is a whistling thrush in the family Muscicapidae. The bird has been called whistling schoolboy for the whistling calls that they make at dawn that have a very human quality. The species is a resident in the Western Ghats and associated hills of peninsular India including central India and parts of the Eastern Ghats.
The pied thrush is a member of the thrush family found in India and Sri Lanka. The males are conspicuously patterned in black and white while the females are olive brown and speckled. They breed in the central Himalayan forests and winter in the hill forests of southern India and Sri Lanka. Like many other thrushes, they forage on leaf litter below forest undergrowth and fly into trees when disturbed and sit still making them difficult to locate.
The black eagle is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus Ictinaetus. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South and Southeast Asia, as well as southeastern China. They hunt mammals and birds, particularly at their nests. They are easily identified by their widely splayed and long primary "fingers", the characteristic silhouette, slow flight and yellow ceres and legs that contrast with their dark feathers.
The purple sunbird is a small bird in the sunbird family found mainly in South and Southeast Asia but extending west into parts of the Arabian peninsula. Like other sunbirds they feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. They have a fast and direct flight and can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird but often perch at the base of flowers. The males can appear all black in harsh sunlight but the purple iridescence is visible on closer observation or under good light conditions. Females are olive above and yellowish below.
The Indian robin is a species of passarine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is widespread in the Indian subcontinent and ranges across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The males of the northern subspecies have brown backs whose extent gradually reduces southwards, with the males of the southern subspecies having all-black backs. They are commonly found in open scrub areas and often seen running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs and rocks. The long tail is usually held up and the chestnut undertail coverts and dark body make them easily distinguishable from pied bushchats and Oriental magpie-robins.
The Kashmir flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It breeds in the Northwest Himalayas and winters in southern India and Sri Lanka. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the red-breasted flycatcher, Ficedula parva, which is its closest living relative. Males are distinctive in having a blackish border to the reddish throat while the females can easily be confused with those of F. parva.
The white-bellied blue flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of southwest India. Males are dark blue with a lighter shade of blue on the brow and have a greyish white belly. Females have a rufous breast, a white face and olive grey above.
The grey-headed canary-flycatcher, sometimes known as the grey-headed flycatcher, is a species of small flycatcher-like bird found in tropical Asia. It has a square crest, a grey hood and yellow underparts. They are found mainly in forested habitats where they often join other birds in mixed-species foraging flocks. Pairs are often seen as they forage for insects by making flycatcher-like sallies and calling aloud. Several subspecies are recognized within their wide distribution range. In the past the genus Culicicapa was considered to be an Old World flycatcher but studies have found them to belong to a new family designated as the Stenostiridae or fairy flycatchers that include the African genera Stenostira and Elminia.
The Indian blue robin is a small bird found in the Indian Subcontinent. Formerly considered a thrush, it is now considered one of the Old World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. It was earlier also called the Indian blue chat. It is migratory, breeding in the forests along the Himalayas of Nepal, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. They winter in the hill forests of the Western Ghats of India and in Sri Lanka.
The black baza is a small bird of prey found in the forests of Northeast India, the eastern Himalayas, China and Southeast Asia. Many populations are migratory, including those in the Indian region, which winter in the south of the Peninsula and Sri Lanka. Black bazas have short, stout legs and feet with strong talons, and a prominent crest. They are found in dense forest, often in small groups, and can often be found perched on bare branches of tall trees rising above the forest canopy.
The brown rock chat or Indian chat is a bird species of the family Muscicapidae. It is found mainly in northern and central India. It is often found on old buildings and rocky areas. It resembles a female Indian robin but lacks the reddish vent and differs in posture and behaviour apart from being larger. In flight it bears some resemblance to thrushes and redstarts. It feeds on insects, captured mainly on the ground. It was formerly placed as the sole species in the genus Cercomela but is now included with the wheatears in the genus Oenanthe.
The little spiderhunter is a species of long-billed nectar-feeding bird in the family Nectariniidae found in the moist forests of South and Southeast Asia. Unlike typical sunbirds, males and females are very similar in plumage. They are usually seen in ones or twos and frequently make a tzeck call. They are most often found near flowering plants where they obtain nectar.
The Nilgiri blue robin, also known as Nilgiri shortwing, white-bellied shortwing, Nilgiri sholakili or rufous-bellied shortwing is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae endemic to the Shola forests of the higher hills of southern India, mainly north of the Palghat Gap. This small bird is found on the forest floor and undergrowth of dense forest patches sheltered in the valleys of montane grassland, a restricted and threatened habitat.
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.
The blue whistling thrush is a bird in the Old World flycatchers family Muscicapidae that is found in the mountains of Central Asia, South Asia, China and Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. The widely distributed populations show variations in size and plumage with several of them considered as subspecies. Like others in the genus, they feed on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects.
The white-bellied blue robin or white-bellied sholakili, is a bird of the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Shola forests of the higher hills of southern India. The Nilgiri blue robin and this species were once considered separate species, later lumped as sub-species of a single species (major) and elevated again to full species in 2005 by Pamela C. Rasmussen. The species was earlier thought to be related to the shortwings and placed in the genus Brachypteryx and later moved to Myiomela since species in the genus Brachypteryx shows marked sexual dimorphism. In 2017, a study found that this is a sister group of the flycatchers in the genera Niltava, Cyornis and Eumyias among others. It was then placed in newly erected genus Sholicola. This small bird is found on the forest floor and undergrowth of dense forest patches sheltered in the valleys of montane grassland, a restricted and threatened habitat.
