Turdus

Turdus is a genus of medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name Turdus is Latin for 'thrush'.

Most of the species are called thrushes; the term thrush is also used for many other birds in the family Turdidae, as well as for a few species belonging to other families. Some Old World species with fully or largely black plumage are called blackbirds, and one, the ring ouzel, still retains the Old English name ouzel, which, until the 17th century, was also used (as "black ouzel") for the common blackbird; it is cognate with the German name Amsel for the same species.[1] Some New World species are called robins, the best known of which is the American robin. Two other species have their own distinct names without "thrush", fieldfare and redwing, derived from behavioural characteristics and plumage features, respectively. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.[2] Several species have colonised oceanic islands, and two European species have been introduced by man into Australia and New Zealand.

All the species are uniform in size and structure, with the great majority between 22–28 cm long; the smallest (Vanikoro island thrush) being 17–19 cm, and the largest (great thrush) being 28–33 cm. All have slender, medium-length bills. Plumage is far more variable; the only fully shared character is that the recently fledged juveniles are spotted on the breast and streaked on the back. Adult colours range from the "classical" thrush pattern of a plain brown back and a spotted breast (e.g. mistle thrush, song thrush), through all-brown (e.g. clay-colored thrush, black-billed thrush) or all-black (e.g. common blackbird, glossy-black thrush), pied (e.g. ring ouzel, white-collared blackbird), to orange- to red-breasted, either subtly (e.g. rufous-bellied thrush, grey-backed thrush) or boldly (e.g. American robin, red-throated thrush). Some show sexual dimorphism with the males brighter or more intensely coloured than the often browner females, while in others, the sexes are identical in plumage. All are omnivorous, with a mixed diet of invertebrates, fruit, and small seeds. The temperate northern hemisphere species are migratory to a greater or lesser extent to avoid the harsh freezing winters of northern Eurasia and North America, while the subtropical, tropical, and southern hemisphere species are generally nonmigratory. Many, or most, are noted for their melodious songs. Almost all occur in habitats with trees and shrubs, but many will also use open ground away from trees; some are highly adapted to rocky mountainous habitats, using steep slopes and rocks adeptly in predator avoidance. Many have adapted well to human presence and are common in urban and suburban gardens, while some are shy and avoid human presence, particularly where there is any history of bird hunting.[2]

While some species have been split out of Turdus, the thrushes formerly separated in the genera Cataponera, Cichlherminia, Nesocichla, Platycichla and Psophocichla by various authors have been restored to the present genus in recent years.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Taxonomy and systematics
* 1.1 Current species
* 2 References
* 3 Further reading
* 4 External links

## Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Turdus was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[4] The type species was subsequently designated as the mistle thrush.[5] The name Turdus is the Latin word for a "thrush".[6]

### Current species

The genus contains 105 extant species of which two are recently extinct:[7]

Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution

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120px  | Groundscraper thrush | Turdus litsitsirupa | Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
120px  | Ethiopian thrush | Turdus simensis | Ethiopia, Eritrea
120px  | Chinese thrush | Turdus mupinensis | China and far northern Vietnam
120px  | Song thrush | Turdus philomelos | Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
120px  | Mistle thrush | Turdus viscivorus | Europe and temperate Asia
120px  | African thrush | Turdus pelios | from Senegal and Gambia in the west to South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea south to north-western Zambia and western Angola
120px  | Príncipe thrush | Turdus xanthorhynchus | Príncipe
120px  | São Tomé thrush | Turdus olivaceofuscus | São Tomé
120px  | Abyssinian thrush | Turdus abyssinicus | Africa from South Sudan south to northern Mozambique
120px  | Taita thrush | Turdus helleri | Taita Hills in Kenya
| Usambara thrush | Turdus roehli | Tanzania
120px  | Olive thrush | Turdus olivaceus | Tanzania and Zimbabwe in the north to the Cape of Good Hope
120px  | Kurrichane thrush | Turdus libonyana | Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
120px  | Comoro thrush | Turdus bewsheri | Comoros Islands
120px  | Bare-eyed thrush | Turdus tephronotus | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania
120px  | Karoo thrush | Turdus smithi | South 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
120px  | Somali thrush or Somali blackbird  | Turdus ludoviciae | Somalia
120px  | Chinese blackbird | Turdus mandarinus | south, central and east China
120px  | Redwing | Turdus iliacus | Europe 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
120px  | Common blackbird | Turdus merula | temperate Eurasia, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and South Asia
120px  | Yemen thrush | Turdus menachensis | Middle East
120px  | Taiwan thrush[8] | Turdus niveiceps | Taiwan
120px  | Grey-winged blackbird | Turdus boulboul | south-eastern Asia from the Himalayas to northern Vietnam
120px  | Indian blackbird | Turdus simillimus | India and Sri Lanka
120px  | Tickell's thrush | Turdus unicolor | Himalayas, and peninsular India
120px  | Black-breasted thrush | Turdus dissimilis | south-western China
120px  | Japanese thrush | Turdus cardis | central China and Japan and northern Laos and Vietnam
120px  | Grey-backed thrush | Turdus hortulorum | north-eastern China and Russia Far East and winters in southern China and northern Vietnam
120px  | Eyebrowed thrush | Turdus obscurus | Siberia south to China and Southeast Asia
120px  | Pale thrush | Turdus pallidus | south-east Siberia, north-east China and Korea and may breed in Japan
120px  | Grey-sided thrush | Turdus feae | north-east China and migrating to subtropical or tropical moist montane forest in India, and Indochina
120px  | Brown-headed thrush | Turdus chrysolaus | Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Hainan and the northern Philippines
120px  | Izu thrush | Turdus celaenops | Izu and Ryukyu Islands of Japan
| Mindoro island thrush | Turdus mindorensis (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Mindoro (northwest Philippines)
120px  | Luzon island thrush | Turdus thomassoni (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Luzon (north Philippines)
| Mindanao island thrush | Turdus nigrorum (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Negros and Mindanao (Philippines)
| Wallacean island thrush | Turdus schlegelii (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Sulawesi and Timor
| Christmas island thrush | Turdus erythropleurus (split from T. poliocephalus)  | Christmas Island
120px  | Sundaic island thrush | Turdus javanicus (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Sumatra, Java and Borneo
| Moluccan island thrush | Turdus deningeri (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Taliabu and Seram
| Papuan island thrush | Turdus papuensis (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane New Guinea and Goodenough Island (D'Entrecasteaux Islands)
| Bismarck island thrush | Turdus heinrothi (split from T. poliocephalus)  | Bismarck Archipelago
| Bougainville island thrush | Turdus bougainvillei (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Bougainville Island (north Solomon Islands)
| Solomons island thrush | Turdus kulambangrae (split from T. poliocephalus)  | montane Kolombangara and Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands)
| Vanikoro island thrush | Turdus vanikorensis (split from T. poliocephalus)  | Vanuatu and Utupua
| White-headed island thrush | Turdus pritzbueri (split from T. poliocephalus)  | south Vanuatu
| New Caledonian island thrush | Turdus xanthopus (split from T. poliocephalus)  | New Caledonia and satellites
| † Tasman Sea island thrush  | Turdus poliocephalus | Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island (east of Australia) (extinct)
| Samoan island thrush | Turdus samoensis (split from T. poliocephalus)  | Savaiʻi and Upolu in Samoa
120px  | Fiji island thrush | Turdus ruficeps (split from T. poliocephalus)  | Fiji
120px  | Tibetan blackbird | Turdus maximus | Himalayas from northern Pakistan to south-eastern Tibet
120px  | White-backed thrush | Turdus kessleri | central China
120px  | Fieldfare | Turdus pilaris | Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Eastern France, 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 north-east 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.
120px  | Ring ouzel | Turdus torquatus | western and central Europe and also in the Caucasus and in the Scandinavian mountains
120px  | Black-throated thrush | Turdus atrogularis | east of Europe to Western Siberia and north-west Mongolia
120px  | Red-throated thrush | Turdus ruficollis | Asia
120px  | Dusky thrush | Turdus eunomus | south to south-east Asia, principally in China and neighbouring countries
120px  | Naumann's thrush | Turdus naumanni | South Asia to Southeast Asia
120px  | Chestnut thrush | Turdus rubrocanus | western Himalayas and central to south-western China; it winters in Eastern Himalaya and northern Southeast Asia
120px  | White-collared blackbird | Turdus albocinctus | Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan
| Sulawesi thrush | Turdus turdoides | Sulawesi Island in Indonesia
120px  | American robin | Turdus migratorius | North America, from Alaska and Canada southward to northern Florida and Mexico
120px  | Black thrush | Turdus infuscatus | El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico
120px  | Rufous-collared thrush | Turdus rufitorques | Central America, south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, occurring in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Chiapas state in Mexico
120px  | Sooty thrush | Turdus nigrescens | Costa Rica and western Panama
120px  | Western red-legged thrush  | Turdus plumbeus | The Bahamas, Cayman Brac, Cuba
120px  | Eastern red-legged thrush  | Turdus ardosiaceus | Dominica, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico
| Grand Cayman thrush | †Turdus ravidus | Grand Cayman (extinct since 1938)
120px  | White-chinned thrush | Turdus aurantius | Jamaica
| Forest thrush | Turdus lherminieri | Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia
120px  | Mountain thrush | Turdus plebejus | southern Mexico to western Panama
120px  | Pale-eyed thrush | Turdus leucops | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela
120px  | White-eyed thrush | Turdus jamaicensis | Jamaica
120px  | La Selle thrush | Turdus swalesi | Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti)
120px  | Chestnut-bellied thrush | Turdus fulviventris | western Venezuela, western Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru and north-western Bolivia
120px  | Plumbeous-backed thrush | Turdus reevei | Ecuador and Peru
120px  | Chiguanco thrush | Turdus chiguanco | Ecuador and the Altiplano
120px  | Andean slaty thrush | Turdus nigriceps | north-west Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru
120px  | Glossy-black thrush | Turdus serranus | northern Venezuela to north-western Argentina
120px  | Black-hooded thrush | Turdus olivater | Venezuela and Colombia
120px  | Great thrush | Turdus fuscater | Andes in western and northern Venezuela as far as Lara and Trujillo, the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and finally, northwest Bolivia
120px  | Austral thrush | Turdus falcklandii | south Argentina and south and central Chile
120px  | Lawrence's thrush | Turdus lawrencii | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela
| Pantepui thrush | Turdus murinus | foothills of south Venezuela and Guyana
120px  | Blacksmith thrush | Turdus subalaris | north-east Argentina, eastern Paraguay and southern Brazil
120px  | Creamy-bellied thrush | Turdus amaurochalinus | central and eastern South America
120px  | Tristan thrush | Turdus eremita | British overseas territories of the isolated Tristan da Cunha archipelago
120px  | Marañón thrush | Turdus maranonicus | southern Ecuador and northern Peru
120px  | Black-billed thrush | Turdus ignobilis | western Amazonia and on the Guianan Shield, occurring in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia
120px  | Campina thrush | Turdus arthuri | lowlands of south-eastern Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, east Colombia and west-central Amazonian Brazil
120px  | Yellow-legged thrush | Turdus flavipes | northern 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
120px  | White-throated thrush | Turdus assimilis | Central America
| Dagua thrush | Turdus daguae | Panama to north-western Ecuador
120px  | White-necked thrush | Turdus albicollis | eastern Brazil, far northern Uruguay, eastern Paraguay and far north-eastern Argentina
120px  | Rufous-backed thrush | Turdus rufopalliatus | south-eastern Sonora to the south-eastern corner of Oaxaca along the coast and in the Río Balsas drainage, with isolated populations in Mexico City and Oaxaca City
| Pale-vented thrush | Turdus obsoletus | Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru
120px  | Pale-breasted thrush | Turdus leucomelas | eastern and northern South America
120px  | Cocoa thrush | Turdus fumigatus | South America
120px  | Hauxwell's thrush | Turdus hauxwelli | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela
120px | Rufous-bellied thrush | Turdus rufiventris | southeast Brazil from Maranhão south to Rio Grande do Sul states, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern regions of Argentina
120px  | Clay-colored thrush | Turdus grayi | South Texas (where it is rapidly expanding its range) to northern Colombia
120px  | Spectacled thrush | Turdus nudigenis | South America from Colombia and Venezuela south and east to northern Brazil, and in Trinidad and Tobago
120px  | Ecuadorian thrush | Turdus maculirostris | western Ecuador and far north-western Peru
| Várzea thrush | Turdus sanchezorum | western Amazon
| Unicolored thrush | Turdus haplochrous | Bolivia

## References

1. ↑ Lockwood, William Burley (1984). The Oxford Book of British Bird Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-19-214155-4.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Clement, Peter; Hathway, Ren (2000-11-30). Thrushes. London: A & C Black. ISBN 0-7136-3940-7.
3. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds (August 2024). "Thrushes". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/thrushes/.
4. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1758) (in la). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 168. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727075.
5. ↑ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds (1964). Check-list of Birds of the World. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 177. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14486366.
6. ↑ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 293. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling.
7. ↑ AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/.
8. ↑ "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List". https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/updates/species-updates/.

## Further reading

* Voelker, G.; Rohwer, S.; Bowie, R.C.K.; Outlaw, D.C. (2007). "Molecular systematics of a speciose, cosmopolitan songbird genus: defining the limits of, and relationships among, the Turdus thrushes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42 (2): 422–434. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.07.016. PMID 16971142. Bibcode: 2007MolPE..42..422V.

## External links

* Videos, photos and sounds \- The Internet Bird Collection

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