Wood Thrush
Hylocichla mustelina
Summary 4
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, wintering in Central America and southern Mexico. The Wood Thrush is the official bird of the District of Columbia.
Hylocichla mustelina 5
A medium-sized (8 inches) thrush, the Wood Thrush is most easily identified by its brown back, rusty-red head, and heavily spotted breast. Other field marks include pinkish legs, short tail, and thick, slightly curved bill. Male and female Wood Thrushes are similar to one another in all seasons. The Wood Thrush breeds across the eastern United States and southern Canada from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia south to northern Florida and west to North Dakota. In winter, this species migrates south to southern Mexico and Central America. Like many bird species wintering in the American tropics, the Wood Thrush crosses the Gulf of Mexico twice a year while on migration. Wood Thrushes primarily breed in deciduous forests with a tall canopy and open forest floor. In winter, this species inhabits humid tropical forests. Wood Thrushes mainly eat insects and other invertebrates during the breeding season, but may also eat fruits and berries during the winter. In appropriate habitat, it may be possible to see Wood Thrushes hopping along the forest floor while foraging for insect prey. More often, however, Wood Thrushes are identified by their song, an unmistakable series of flute-like notes repeated with numerous embellishments and alterations. Wood Thrushes are primarily active during the day, but, like many migratory songbirds, this species migrates at night.
Conservation status 6
Continent-wide wood thrush populations appear to have declined significantly over the past several decades. This decline can be attributed largely to habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. Wood thrushes are usually found in mature forests; nesting in residential areas and other disturbed sites is rare. They are significantly less abundant in fragmented areas bordered by roads and power lines compared to larger tracts of forest.
Brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds is more common in forested habitats with a high proportion of edge than in large tracts of forest. Brood parasitism leads to decreased reproductive success of wood thrushes. The rate of parasitism varies by region; rates are much higher in the Midwest than in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions. Reproductive success is also affected by increased predation in smaller forest patches. A study conducted in Pennsylvania found that less than half (46%) of wood thrush nests were successful in forest patches less then 80 ha in size, while in large continuous forests, 86% of nests were successful. Rates of predation are higher in smaller forest patches with large edge areas, possibly because small patches cannot support large predators that regulate smaller nest predators and nest predators tend to be abundant in small patches, which they use for foraging.
Wood thrushes are protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act. There are about 14,000,000 wood thrushes throughout the geographic range.
US Migratory Bird Act: protected
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Habitat 7
The breeding range of wood thrushes is composed of deciduous and mixed forests. They prefer late-successional, upland mesic forests with a moderately-dense shrub layer. Other important elements of wood thrush breeding habitat include trees taller than 16 m, a fairly open forest floor, moist soil, and leaf litter. Bertin (1977) found that wood thrushes favor areas with running water, moist ground and high understory cover. Substrate moisture is more important than canopy cover or access to running water. Wood thrushes can breed in habitat patches as small as 1 acre, but those that breed in larger tracts of forest experience lower predation and lower nest parasitism, leading to higher reproductive success.
Wood thrushes winter primarily in the interior understory of tropical primary forests. However, they may also occur along forest edges and in second growth.
Range elevation: 1325 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Sources and Credits
- (c) Greg Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3487880548_071e11b40f.jpg
- (c) SalvadorDalaiLama, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3385/3262172956_a7e525c9aa.jpg
- (c) Dan Nydick, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/66842577@N08/17482862716/
- Adapted by Amanda Carrillo-Perez from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylocichla_mustelina
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34818421
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31398879
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31398869
