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Wood Thrush

Hylocichla mustelinaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Thrushes (Turdidae)

Wood Thrush Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Wood Thrush: Medium-sized thrush with rust-brown upperparts and white underparts with heavy dark brown spots. Eye-rings are white. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has pale streaks on upperparts.

Range and Habitat

Wood Thrush: Breeds from Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia south to Florida and Gulf of Mexico. Spends winters in tropics. Found in moist, deciduous woodlands with a thick understory; also well-planted parks and gardens.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"ee-o-lee", "ee-o-lay", "qurirt", "pit-pit-pit"

Interesting Facts

 The Wood Thrush was first described by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. It is best known for its hauntingly beautiful song.

 The genus name is a direct translation of its common name, derived from the Greek words for woodland and thrush or fieldfare. The species name comes from the Latin mustela, or weasel.

 It is the official bird of the District of Columbia.

 A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Wood Thrush
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Thrush (Turdidae)_blue
Species Hylocichla mustelina
Length7.75 - 8 Inches
Wingspan13.5 Inches

Wood Thrush

Wood Thrush: Medium thrush, rust-brown upperparts, white underparts with heavy dark brown spots. Eye-rings are white. Black bill has creamy pink base on lower mandible. In the early 1900s, its range began to expand north, forcing the Veery and Hermit thrushes to find another habitat.

● Song: "ee-o-lee", "ee-o-lay", "qurirt", "pit-pit-pit"

● Foraging & Feeding: Wood Thrush: Eats various insects, spiders, and fruits; feeds largely on fruits and berries during fall migration; forages on the ground and in low vegetation.

● Breeding & nesting: Wood Thrush: Two to five pale blue or blue green eggs are laid in a cup nest made of moss, mud, and dried leaves, lined with fine rootlets, and built 6 to 50 feet above the ground in a tree or shrub. Incubation ranges from 13 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Wood Thrush: Veery is smaller with red-brown upperparts, longer tail, and different voice.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings.
Wood Thrush Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Wood Thrush: Breeds from Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia south to Florida and Gulf of Mexico. Spends winters in tropics. Found in moist, deciduous woodlands with a thick understory; also well-planted parks and gardens.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.7 Ounces