Black-throated Thrush Turdus atrogularis Scientific name definitions

24–27 cm; 54–110 g. Male has black face, throat  and breast ; dull grey above , tail black; lower breast  , breast side, belly and flanks off-white with broad, indistinct streaking; bill dark, yellowish lower mandible; legs reddish-brown. Hybrids with T. ruficollis have some rufous or purple in black areas, varying amounts of rufous in tail. Female is like male but duller, has some whitish feather tips on throat  and breast , a few thin blackish streaks on flanks. Juvenile is dull brown-grey with buffish streaks and spots above, buffish below, paler on throat and belly , with dark malar, thickly dark-spotted breast, less densely spotted flanks.

• Black-throated x Red-throated Thrush (hybrid) Turdus atrogularis x ruficollis

E European Russia (Ural Mts) E to NC Siberia, S to Tarbagatai Mts and NW Mongolia; non-breeding S to Middle East, E to Himalayas, S China and N Myanmar.

Breeds in variety of habitats, including pure coniferous forests (occupying edges along rivers and streams, glades and clearings), sparse dry woods, larch (Larix) clumps, semi-open willow (Salix) scrub, groves of poplar (Populus) and birch (Betula), buckthorn (Rhamnus) thickets and wooded bogs, to 2200 m but generally lower; after breeding, some family parties move upwards into sparse subalpine woodland and shrubbery. Winters on grassy scrubby hillsides and in forest edge, willow groves, fields, gardens, orchards, pastures and cultivated ground, from lowlands to 4200 m; in Saudi Arabia in cultivated areas and by water-filled wadis; vagrants in Israel recorded in areas with mixed trees and thickets by fields, e.g. date-palm groves and pinewoods.

Partial or full migrant; winter distribution and abundance variable with weather conditions. Autumn departure mid-Aug to Oct, e.g. departure around Krasnoyarsk (SC Siberia) mid-Oct and passage in Semipalatinsk to end Oct; Ob and Irtysh Valleys important migration corridors. Migrates through Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia to winter in area from Iraq and Arabia E across S Asia, including N Afghanistan (Sept–Apr) and Turkmenistan, to NE India and N Myanmar, sometimes N to extreme S Kazakhstan; uncommon winter visitor to Arabian Peninsula (Bahrain Oct–Mar, mainly Dec–Jan). In Ladakh, passage early Sept to Nov, numbers building to peak in late Oct, and early winter roosts forming during Nov. Nepal winter influx rather late, but dates uncertain and probably variable with seasonal weather. Arrives N Pakistan mid-Oct and spreads thinly S by end Nov, retreating N in Mar but lingering in N into early May. Spring passage in India Mar–Apr, and Turkmenistan Mar to early Apr, Tadjikistan until late Apr or early May, Russia late Apr to mid-May or later; arrival around Krasnoyarsk mid-Apr, Tomsk 15th-20th Apr, Omsk early May. Vagrants W to Israel Nov–Feb, also to Europe , Japan and Thailand.

Insects, including grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera) and caterpillars, also earthworms, snails; also berries , which form staple diet in winter. In Kirghizstan, stomachs of 75 birds held mainly adult and larval beetles, caterpillars and other invertebrates. Winterers in Pakistan seen to feed on rosehips in Rosa lacerans thickets, fallen juniper (Juniperus) berries and berries of Hippophae rhamnoides, but also on worms, termites (Isoptera) and insect larvae, even on human faeces outside settlements. Wintering birds in Nepal fed extensively on nectar of flowering rhododendron trees in early Apr. Food brought to nestlings in Tomsk mainly earthworms, but also caterpillars and beetles. Forages on ground and in bushes, notably rhododendrons in winter; reported as taking animal food from unfrozen stream margins. Highly gregarious when not breeding.

Song a simple series of rather slow-paced, rambling phrases, many of which consist of chatters and rich low husky disyllabic notes, e.g. “chip-chip-chip…chi-chi-chi-chi…cherr-vóó, cherr-véé, chet-chet-chet…”. Subsong a sustained delivery of simple phrases and whistles. Calls  include thin “seet”, high squeaky repeated “qui-kwea” for contact, and throaty chuckling “which-which-which” in alarm.

May–Jul; single-brooded. Territory small, nests may be as close as 20–30 m to each other. Nest a cup of grass stems, plastered internally with mud, lined with fine grasses, placed low down in tree, on stump or on ground. Eggs 4–7, bluish-green with light brownish blotches and freckling. Incubation period 11–12 days; nestling period 11–13 days.

Not globally threatened. Population in European Russia (W slope of Urals) 50,000–55,000 pairs. Typical breeding densities in Pechora Basin 4·8 birds/km² in montane birch, 17–25 birds/km² in spruce (Picea) woods, 36 birds/km² in montane willow and 48 birds/km² in montane larch; in waterside willow stands near Novosibirsk as many as 136 birds/km², with 40/km² in interior of mixed woods. One of most abundant thrushes in Altai region and generally common in Russia. Locally abundant in winter in Pakistan. Fairly abundant in winter in NE India.