Varied Thrush
Ixoreus naevius

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Ixoreus

Audio for Species

Call
Song

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Varied Thrush Pictures

Description

Length: 7.5-10.2 in (19-26 cm) Weight: 2.3-3.5 oz (65-100 g) Wingspan: 13.4-15 in( 34-38 cm)

Orange legs and dark bill with yellow mandible base. Male: head blue-gray above, orange below, with broad orange brow, a black auricular and chest bands, complicated pattern of orange-on-black wings, and gray scalloping on flanks and lower belly. Female: similar but upperparts brown; ear bandmostly dark gray; thinner, indistinct gray chest band; wings brown. Juvenile: much like adult females, but chest heavily scalloped with dark gray-brown; central belly white.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Nests in moist, typically conifer-dominated, habitats of the Northwest, and in tall willow riparian north above the treeline. 1 to 6 eggs per nest, that are light blue with small brown spots.

A migrating bird that ranges from Southern California to western Alaska, and east to the Rockies. Rarely east and south of southern Rocky Mountains.

It mainly feeds near the ground, foraging mostly for invertebrates, but eats berries and some seeds too.