True thrush

True thrushes
Male common blackbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Turdidae
Genus:	Turdus Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Some 65, and see text.

True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Turdus of the thrush family, Turdidae.

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 famous 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.

List of species

• Abyssinian thrush, Turdus abyssinicus
• African thrush, Turdus pelios
• American robin, Turdus migratorius
• Andean slaty thrush, Turdus nigriceps
• Austral thrush, Turdus falcklandii
• Bare-eyed thrush, Turdus tephronotus
• Black thrush, Turdus infuscatus
• Black-billed thrush, Turdus ignobilis
• Black-breasted thrush, Turdus dissimilis
• Black-throated thrush, Turdus atrogularis
• Brown-headed thrush, Turdus chrysolaus
• Black-hooded thrush, Turdus olivater
  • Cauca black-hooded thrush, Turdus olivater caucae - possibly extinct (late 20th century?)
• Chestnut thrush, Turdus rubrocanus
• Chestnut-bellied thrush, Turdus fulviventris
• Chiguanco thrush, Turdus chiguanco
• Chinese blackbird, Turdus mandarinus
• Chinese thrush, Turdus mupinensis
• Clay-colored thrush, Turdus grayi
• Cocoa thrush, Turdus fumigatus
• Common blackbird, Turdus merula
• Comoros thrush, Turdus bewsheri
• Creamy-bellied thrush, Turdus amaurochalinus
• Dusky thrush, Turdus eunomus
• Eastern slaty thrush, Turdus subalaris
• Ecuadorian thrush, Turdus maculirostris
• Eyebrowed thrush, Turdus obscurus
• Fieldfare, Turdus pilaris
• Forest thrush, Turdus lherminieri
• Glossy-black thrush, Turdus serranus
• Grand Cayman thrush, Turdus ravidus - extinct (1940s)
• Great thrush, Turdus fuscater
• Grey-backed thrush, Turdus hortulorum
• Grey-sided thrush, Turdus feae
• Grey-winged blackbird, Turdus boulboul
• Hauxwell's thrush, Turdus hauxwelli
• Indian blackbird, Turdus simillimus
• Island thrush, Turdus poliocephalus
  • Borneo thrush, Turdus poliocephalus seebohmi
  • Christmas thrush, Turdus poliocephalus erythropleurus - common Christmas Island endemic subspecies
  • Lifou thrush, Turdus poliocephalus pritzbueri - possibly extinct (early 20th century?)
  • Lord Howe thrush, Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus - extinct (1920s)
  • Maré thrush, Turdus poliocephalus mareensis - extinct (early 20th century)
  • Norfolk thrush, Turdus poliocephalus poliocephalus - extinct (c. 1975)
  • Taiwan thrush, Turdus poliocephalus niveiceps
• Izu thrush, Turdus celaenops
• Japanese thrush, Turdus cardis
• Karoo thrush, Turdus smithi
• Kessler's thrush, Turdus kessleri
• Kurrichane thrush, Turdus libonyana
• La Selle thrush, Turdus swalesi
• Lawrence's thrush, Turdus lawrencii
• Marañón thrush, Turdus maranonicus
• Mistle thrush, Turdus viscivorus
• Mountain thrush, Turdus plebejus
• Naumann's thrush, Turdus naumanni
• Olive thrush, Turdus olivaceus
• Pale thrush, Turdus pallidus
• Pale-breasted thrush, Turdus leucomelas
• Pale-eyed thrush, Turdus leucops
• Pale-vented thrush, Turdus obsoletus
• Plumbeous-backed thrush, Turdus reevei
• Príncipe thrush, Turdus xanthorhynchus
• Red-legged thrush, Turdus plumbeus
• Red-throated thrush, Turdus ruficollis
• Redwing, Turdus iliacus

Redwing (Turdus iliacus) in Iceland

• Ring ouzel, Turdus torquatus
• Rufous-backed thrush, Turdus rufopalliatus
• Rufous-bellied thrush, Turdus rufiventris
• Rufous-collared thrush, Turdus rufitorques
• São Tomé thrush, Turdus olivaceofuscus
• Somali thrush or Somali blackbird, Turdus ludoviciae - formerly in T. olivaceus
• Song thrush, Turdus philomelos
• Sooty thrush, Turdus nigrescens
• Spectacled thrush, Turdus nudigenis
• Taita thrush, Turdus helleri - formerly in T. olivaceus
• Tibetan blackbird, Turdus maximus
• Tickell's thrush, Turdus unicolor
• Tristan thrush, Turdus eremita
• Unicolored thrush, Turdus haplochrous
• Usambara thrush, Turdus roehli
• Várzea thrush, Turdus sanchezorum
• White-chinned thrush, Turdus aurantius
• White-collared blackbird, Turdus albocinctus
• White-eyed thrush, Turdus jamaicensis
• White-necked thrush, Turdus albicollis
  • Grey-flanked thrush Turdus (albicollis) phaeopygos
  • Rufous-flanked thrush Turdus (albicollis) albicollis
• White-throated thrush, Turdus assimilis
  • Dagua thrush, Turdus (assimilis) daguae
• Yellow-legged thrush, Turdus flavipes
• Yemen thrush, Turdus menachensis

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. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Turdus.

• Videos, photos and sounds - The Internet Bird Collection