The Wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) is a North American passerine bird. It is closely related to other thrushes such as the American robin and is widely distributed across North America.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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OmnivoreAn omnivore is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and ani...
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ArborealArboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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ZoochoryZoochory animals are those that can disperse plant seeds in several ways. Seeds can be transported on the outside of vertebrate animals (mostly mam...
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TerritorialA territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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Serial monogamySerial monogamy is a mating system in which a pair bonds only for one breeding season.
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe crown, nape, and upper back of the Wood Thrush are cinnamon-brown, while the back wings and tail are a slightly duller brown. The breast and belly are white with large dark brown spots on the breast, sides, and flanks. It has white eye rings and pink legs. Other brownish thrushes have finer spotting on the breast. The juvenile looks similar to adults but has additional spots on the back, neck, and wing coverts. The male and female are similar in size and plumage.
Wood thrushes breed from Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia in southern Canada to northern Florida and from the Atlantic coast to the Missouri River and the eastern Great Plains. They migrate to southern Mexico through to Panama in Central America in the winter, mostly in the lowlands along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. These birds prefer to breed in deciduous and mixed forests with a moderately dense shrub layer. They favor areas with running water, moist ground, and high understorey cover. These birds can also be found in plantations.
Wood thrushes are primarily solitary birds, but occasionally form mixed-species flocks in the winter. Their breeding territory ranges from 800 to 8,000 m2 (960 to 9,570 sq yd) in size and is used for nesting, gathering nest materials, and foraging. Some Wood thrushes also defend a feeding territory in the winter. Territories are usually defended without physical contact, but nests are defended using visual displays like wing flicks, tail flicks, and raising the crest, sometimes escalating to dives and strikes. Wood thrushes are active during the day and forage mainly on the forest floor, flipping leaves over with their bills to reveal insects. They usually hop around in leaf litter and on the semi-bare ground under the forest canopy. Wood thrushes are said to have one of the most beautiful songs of North American birds. While the females are not known to sing, the males have a unique song that has three parts. The first subsong component consists of short, low-pitched notes such as 'bup, bup, bup'. The middle part is a loud phrase often written 'ee-oh-lay', and the third part is a ventriloquial, trill-like phrase of non-harmonic pairs of notes given rapidly and simultaneously. The 'bup, bup, bup' phrase is also sometimes used as a call, which is louder and at a greater frequency when the bird is agitated. Wood thrushes also use a 'tut, tut' to signal agitation. Their nocturnal flight call is an emphatic buzzing 'heeh'.
Wood thrushes are omnivores and soil invertebrates and larvae make up most of their diet. However, these birds will also eat fruits in the late summer, fall, and late winter. They occasionally feed on arboreal insects, snails, and small salamanders. The young are fed insects and some fruit.
Wood thrushes are serially monogamous and start to form pairs in mid-April to early May; most thrushes find a new mate each year. Some males arrive at the breeding grounds several days before the earliest females while other males arrive at the same time as the females, establishing territories ranging in size from 0.08 to 0.8 hectares. The female typically leads silent circular flights 1-1.8 m (3.3-5.9 ft) from the ground, with the male chasing. Six or more flights generally take place in succession. The pairs will perch together and feed each other in between flights. The male begins to sing at dawn and dusk a few days after arriving at the breeding grounds. The song season is usually over by the end of July. Typically, the female chooses the nest site and builds the nest. The nest is usually sited in a dense patch of vegetation in a tree or shrub that provides concealment and shade. It is usually made of dead grasses, stems, and leaves, and lined with mud, and placed in a fork at a horizontal branch. The female lays 2-4 pale blue eggs and incubates them alone for 11 to 14 days. The chicks are altricial at hatching, mostly naked with closed eyes. The female broods the chicks during the first 4 days after hatching and both parents feed their young. The chicks fledge 12-15 days after hatching, but the parents continue to feed them until they become independent and leave the parents' territory at 21-31 days old. The young are able to begin breeding the next summer. Pairs usually raise two broods, with the last of the young fledging around mid-August.
The Wood thrush faces threats both to its North American breeding grounds and Central American wintering grounds. Forest fragmentation in North American forests has resulted in both increased nest predation and increased cowbird parasitism, significantly reducing their reproductive success. The continued destruction of primary forests in Central America eliminated preferred Wood thrush wintering habitats, likely forcing the birds to choose secondary habitats where mortality rates are higher. Other threats to this species include acid rain, pollution, and disturbance at nest sites.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Wood thrush is 12,000,000 mature individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List but its numbers today are decreasing.
