True thrush


True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Turdus of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name Turdus is Latin for "thrush". The term "thrush" is used for many other birds of the family Turdidae as well as for a number of species belonging to several other families.
The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Several species have also colonised some oceanic islands, and two species have been introduced to New Zealand. Some New World species are called robins, the most well known of which is the American robin. Several species are migratory.
While some species are often split out of Turdus, the two small thrushes formerly separated in Platycichla by many authors have been restored to the present genus in recent years.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Turdus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species was subsequently designated as the mistle thrush. The name Turdus is Latin word for a "thrush".

Extant species

Eighty-four extant species are recognized:
ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Yellow-legged thrushTurdus flavipesnorthern Colombia, Venezuela, far northern Brazil, Trinidad, and Tobago, as well as parts of the Pakaraima Mountains in western Guyana, eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and far northeastern Argentina
Pale-eyed thrushTurdus leucopsBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela
African thrushTurdus peliosfrom Senegal and Gambia in the west to South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea south to northwestern Zambia and western Angola
Bare-eyed thrushTurdus tephronotusEthiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania
Kurrichane thrushTurdus libonyanaAngola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
São Tomé thrushTurdus olivaceofuscusSão Tomé
Príncipe thrushTurdus xanthorhynchusPríncipe
Olive thrushTurdus olivaceusTanzania and Zimbabwe in the north to the Cape of Good Hope
Usambara thrushTurdus roehliTanzania
Abyssinian thrushTurdus abyssinicusAfrica from South Sudan south to northern Mozambique.
Karoo thrushTurdus smithiSouth Africa, where it is present in Little Namaqualand, the Karoo and Northern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and parts of the North West Province.
Somali thrush or Somali blackbirdTurdus ludoviciaeSomalia.
Taita thrushTurdus helleriTaita Hills in Kenya
Yemen thrushTurdus menachensisMiddle East-
Comoro thrushTurdus bewsheriComoros Islands
Grey-backed thrushTurdus hortulorumnortheastern China and Russia Far East and winters in southern China and northern Vietnam
Tickell's thrushTurdus unicolorHimalayas, and peninsular India
Black-breasted thrushTurdus dissimilissouthwestern China
Japanese thrushTurdus cardiscentral China and Japan and northern Laos and Vietnam
White-collared blackbirdTurdus albocinctusBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan
Ring ouzelTurdus torquatuswestern and central Europe and also in the Caucasus and in the Scandinavian mountains
Grey-winged blackbirdTurdus boulboulsouth-eastern Asia from the Himalayas to northern Vietnam
Common blackbirdTurdus merulatemperate Eurasia, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and South Asia
Chinese blackbirdTurdus mandarinussouth, central and east China
Tibetan blackbirdTurdus maximusHimalayas from northern Pakistan to southeastern Tibet
Indian blackbirdTurdus simillimusIndia and Sri Lanka
Island thrushTurdus poliocephalusTaiwan, through South East Asia and Melanesia, to Samoa
Chestnut thrushTurdus rubrocanuswestern Himalayas and central/southwestern China; it winters in Eastern Himalaya and northern Southeast Asia
Kessler's thrushTurdus kesslericentral China
Grey-sided thrushTurdus feaenorth-east China and migrating to subtropical or tropical moist montane forest in India, and Indochina
Eyebrowed thrushTurdus obscurusSiberia south to China and Southeast Asia.
Pale thrushTurdus pallidussouth-east Siberia, north-east China and Korea and may breed in Japan
Brown-headed thrushTurdus chrysolausSakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Hainan and the northern Philippines
Izu thrushTurdus celaenopsIzu and Ryukyu Islands of Japan
Black-throated thrushTurdus atrogulariseast of Europe to Western Siberia and north-west Mongolia.
Red-throated thrushTurdus ruficollisAsia
Naumann's thrushTurdus naumanniSouth Asia to Southeast Asia
Dusky thrushTurdus eunomussouth to southeast Asia, principally in China and neighbouring countries
FieldfareTurdus pilarisnorthern Norway, northern Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Siberia as far east as Transbaikal, the Aldan River, the Tian Shan Mountains in North West China, Anatolia, Israel, Iran and Northwest India, and occasionally Northeast India. It is a vagrant to Iceland, Greenland, Spitsbergen, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Madeira, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and Cyprus. It is a very rare breeder in the British Isles, but winters in large numbers in the United Kingdom, Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
RedwingTurdus iliacusEurope and Asia, from Iceland south to northernmost Scotland, and east through Scandinavia, the Baltic States, northern Poland and Belarus, and through most of Russia to about 165°E in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Song thrushTurdus philomelossouthern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
Chinese thrushTurdus mupinensisChina and far northern Vietnam
Mistle thrushTurdus viscivorusEurope and temperate Asia
Great thrushTurdus fuscaterAndes in western and northern Venezuela as far as Lara and Trujillo, the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and finally, northwest Bolivia
Chiguanco thrushTurdus chiguancoEcuador and the Altiplano
Sooty thrushTurdus nigrescensCosta Rica and western Panama
Black thrushTurdus infuscatusEl Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico
Glossy-black thrushTurdus serranusnorthern Venezuela to northwestern Argentina.
Andean slaty thrushTurdus nigricepsnorth-west Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru
Blacksmith thrushTurdus subalarisnorth-east Argentina, eastern Paraguay and southern Brazil
Plumbeous-backed thrushTurdus reeveiEcuador and Peru
Black-hooded thrushTurdus olivaterVenezuela and Colombia
Marañón thrushTurdus maranonicussouthern Ecuador and northern Peru
Chestnut-bellied thrushTurdus fulviventriswestern Venezuela, western Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru and northwestern Bolivia.
Rufous-bellied thrushTurdus rufiventrissoutheast Brazil from Maranhão south to Rio Grande do Sul states, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern regions of Argentina
Austral thrushTurdus falcklandiisouth Argentina and south and central Chile
Pale-breasted thrushTurdus leucomelaseastern and northern South America
Creamy-bellied thrushTurdus amaurochalinuscentral and eastern South America
Mountain thrushTurdus plebejussouthern Mexico to western Panama.
Black-billed thrushTurdus ignobiliswestern Amazonia and on the Guianan Shield, occurring in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia
Campina thrushTurdus arthurilowlands of se Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, e Colombia and wc Amazonian Brazil
Pantepui thrushTurdus murinusfoothills of s Venezuela and Guyana
Lawrence's thrushTurdus lawrenciiBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela
Cocoa thrushTurdus fumigatusSouth America
Pale-vented thrushTurdus obsoletusColombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.-
Hauxwell's thrushTurdus hauxwelliBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Unicolored thrushTurdus haplochrousBolivia.
Clay-colored thrushTurdus grayiSouth Texas to northern Colombia; west and north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Spectacled thrushTurdus nudigenisSouth America from Colombia and Venezuela south and east to northern Brazil. In Trinidad and Tobago
Várzea thrushTurdus sanchezorumwestern Amazon
Ecuadorian thrushTurdus maculirostriswestern Ecuador and far northwestern Peru
White-eyed thrushTurdus jamaicensisJamaica
White-throated thrushTurdus assimilisCentral America
Dagua thrushTurdus daguaePanama to north-western Ecuador
White-necked thrushTurdus albicolliseastern Brazil, far northern Uruguay, eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina
Rufous-backed thrushTurdus rufopalliatussoutheastern Sonora to the southeastern corner of Oaxaca along the coast and in the Río Balsas drainage. The isolated populations in Mexico City and Oaxaca City
Rufous-collared thrushTurdus rufitorquesMiddle America, south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, occurring in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Chiapas state in Mexico.
American robinTurdus migratoriusNorth America, from Alaska and Canada southward to northern Florida and Mexico
La Selle thrushTurdus swalesiHispaniola
White-chinned thrushTurdus aurantiusJamaica
Red-legged thrushTurdus plumbeusthe Bahamas, Cayman Brac, Cuba, Dominica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico
Forest thrushTurdus lherminieriDominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia.
Tristan thrushTurdus eremitaBritish overseas territories of the isolated Tristan da Cunha archipelago

Extinct species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species as species within the genus Turdus: