Thrush is a family of songbirds known for their often flowing, flutelike songs. They live throughout most of the world. Most thrushes are brown, reddish-brown, or gray, but many species have brighter colors. They often have contrasting rings of color around the eyes. Their blunt bills and stout legs can also be brightly colored.
Thrushes often live in forests and open woodlands. They chiefly eat fruit as well as earthworms, insects, and other invertebrates (animals without backbones), usually feeding on or near the ground. Most thrushes are shy and solitary, but some species can be highly social. The American robin, for example, often feeds in large flocks.
Loading the player...Wood thrush
Typically, the female thrush builds a cup-shaped nest lined with fine plant fibers and rootlets and strengthened with mud. There, she incubates (sits on to warm) several eggs. The male feeds her, and together they care for the hatched young. Thrushes that breed in seasonally cold climates migrate toward the equator as winter nears. Some tropical species breed in the mountains, then migrate to the lowlands.
The wood thrush, noted for its clear flutelike singing, ranks as one of North America’s largest and best-known thrushes. Its head and shoulders have a bright cinnamon color, and dark spots mark its white breast. It nests in southeastern Canada and the eastern United States and winters in southeastern Mexico and Central America. The hermit thrush inhabits western Alaska, southern Canada, and the western, upper midwestern, and northeastern United States, including the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. It winters from the southern United States through parts of Central America. Other common North American thrushes include the veery, the varied thrush, Swainson’s thrush, and bluebirds. The rare Bicknell’s thrush lives in New England and eastern Canada, wintering in the Greater Antilles.
Loading the player...European blackbird
More diverse thrush species inhabit Eurasia. The Eurasian blackbird, a completely black thrush, resembles the American robin in shape and behavior. Other European species include the song thrush and fieldfare.
Thrushes include a number of smaller birds called chat-thrushes or simply chats. The European robin and the nightingale are well-known chat-thrushes. Some scientists consider these birds to be more closely related to flycatchers than to other thrushes.
