Eyebrowed thrush

Eyebrowed thrush
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Turdus
Species: T. obscurus
Binomial name
Turdus obscurus
Gmelin, 1789

The eyebrowed thrush (Turdus obscurus) is a member of the thrush family Turdidae.

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

It breeds in dense coniferous forest and taiga eastwards from Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering south to southeast Asia and Indonesia. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe.

It nests in trees, laying 4-6 eggs in a neat nest. Migrating birds and wintering birds often form small flocks. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms and berries.

This is an attractive thrush, with a grey back and head, the latter having a black eyeline, bordered white above and below. The breast and flanks are orange, and the belly white. The sexes are fairly similar, but immatures have a browner back.

The male has a simple whistling song, similar to the related mistle thrush.

In 2007 an eyebrowed thrush was sighted at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory in Jerusalem.[2] This is the second recorded sighting in Israel; the first was at Eilat in October 1996.

In 2011, an eyebrowed thrush was sighted in Australia, near Malanda in Queensland.[3] This is possibly the first confirmed sighting of the species on the Australian mainland.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Turdus obscurus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Rare bird is sighted in Jerusalem, By Megan Jacobs, Nov. 5, 2007, Jerusalem Post
  3. Eye-browed Thrush – First for Australia, Feb. 9, 2011, Bird-o.com
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