Eyebrowed thrush
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|0.09|0}}Late Pleistocene – present
| image = Eyebrowed Thrush.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Turdus
| species = obscurus
| authority = Gmelin, JF, 1789
}}
The eyebrowed thrush (Turdus obscurus) is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It breeds in dense coniferous forest and taiga eastwards from Siberia and Mongolia to Japan. It is strongly migratory, wintering south to China and Southeast Asia. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
Taxonomy
The eyebrowed thrush was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus obscurus.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=816 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656311 }}{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Paynter | editor2-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1964 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=10 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=201 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14486390 }} The scientific name comes from Latin Turdus meaning "thrush" and obscurus meaning "dark" or "dusky".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n278/mode/1up 278], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n393/mode/1up 393]}} Gmelin based his account on the "Dark thrush" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his multi-volume work A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham noted that "This is Sibirian species and found in the woods beyond Lake Baikal" but did not explain the source of his information.{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1783 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=2, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=31, No. 24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33727999 }} The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2023 | title=Thrushes | work=IOC World Bird List Version 13.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/thrushes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=15 August 2023 }}
Description
This is an attractive thrush, with a grey back and head, the latter having a black eyeline, bordered white above and below. The breast and flanks are orange, and the belly white. The sexes are fairly similar, but immatures have a browner back.
The male has a simple whistling song, similar to the related mistle thrush.
Behaviour
It nests in trees, laying 4-6 eggs in a neat nest. Migrating birds and wintering birds often form small flocks. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms and berries.
In 2007 an eyebrowed thrush was sighted at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory in Jerusalem.{{cite news | title = Rare bird is sighted in Jerusalem | first = Megan | last = Jacobs | date = 5 November 2007 | newspaper = Jerusalem Post | url = http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Sci-Tech/Science-And-Environment/Rare-bird-is-sighted-in-Jerusalem | access-date = 4 October 2017}} This is the second recorded sighting in Israel; the first was at Eilat in October 1996.
In 2011, an eyebrowed thrush was sighted in Australia, near Malanda in Queensland.{{Cite web |url=http://bird-o.com/2011/02/09/eye-browed-thrush-first-for-australia/ |title=Eye-browed Thrush – First for Australia, Feb. 9, 2011, Bird-o.com |access-date=2011-12-08 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708191228/http://bird-o.com/2011/02/09/eye-browed-thrush-first-for-australia/ |archive-date=2012-07-08 |url-status=dead }} This is possibly the first confirmed sighting of the species on the Australian mainland.
Fossil record
In 2017, an assessment of late Pleistocene Indonesian passerines found a fossil of this species.{{Cite journal|last1=Meijer|first1=Hanneke J.M.|last2=Awe Due|first2=Rokus|last3=Sutikna|first3=Thomas|last4=Saptomo|first4=Wahyu|last5=Jatmiko|last6=Wasisto|first6=Sri|last7=Tocheri|first7=Matthew W.|last8=Mayr|first8=Gerald|date=2017-08-17|title=Late Pleistocene songbirds of Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia); the first fossil passerine fauna described from Wallacea |journal=PeerJ|volume=5|pages=e3676|doi=10.7717/peerj.3676 |pmc=5563437|pmid=28828271 |doi-access=free }}
Gallery
File:Eyebrowed Thrush from Khonoma bird watching tour to Nagaland.jpg
File:Hoetmaytrang.jpg|Eyebrowed thrush from Khonoma village in Nagaland, India
File:Turdus obscurus MWNH 1761.JPG|Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden