Wood Thrush

Cover photo credit: Mike V.A. Burrell

Hylocichla mustelina

Did you know?

A female Wood Thrush requires 10-15x more calcium than similar sized mammal, making snail shells a necessary calcium-rich food supplement! These snails are depleted in areas subjected to acid rain causing nutrient deficiencies in the local population of Wood Thrush.

Think a Wood Thrush song sounds haunting? There’s a reason for that! Wood Thrush are able to sing notes in pairs, one in each branch of its voice box simultaneously, making them basically be able to sing a duet with itself!

Extra-pair copulation is common in Wood Thrush with sometimes 40% of the chicks not fathered by the mate.

Species at Risk Status

Federal Government status: Threatened

Provincial Government status: Special Concern

Have you seen this species at risk? Report your sighting.

Description

Medium sized 20cm long songbird. Their upper parts are rusty-brown, and their underparts are white with black speckles on the breast and sides
Males and females have a similar appearance. With the exception that juveniles have tawny streaks and spots on their upper parts
Bold white eye-ring
Heard deep in the forest singing a haunting “ee-ooh-lay” song

Habitat

Lives in mature deciduous and mixed forests
Forests must have moderate undergrowth for shade and abundant leaf litter for insect foraging
They also look for tall trees to uses as singing perches

Threats

Urban and rural development causing their forest habitat to become fragmented.
Over grazing deer eating the underbrush where these bird’s nest.
Parasitic nesting of brown-headed cowbirds.
Acid Rain