Pied Thrush
Geokichla wardii
The Pied Thrush (Geokichla wardii) is a rare thrush found in 4 countries, weighing about 59 g. The pied thrush is a member of the thrush family found in India and Sri Lanka.
About the Pied Thrush
The pied thrush is a member of the thrush family found in India and Sri Lanka. The males are conspicuously patterned in black and white while the females are olive brown and speckled. They breed in the central Himalayan forests and winter in the hill forests of southern India and Sri Lanka. Like many other thrushes, they forage on leaf litter below forest undergrowth and fly into trees when disturbed and sit still making them difficult to locate.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
Males of this 22 cm (8.7 in) thrush are conspicuously black and white. Mostly black on the upper parts it has a long white supercilium, and white tips to the wing coverts, tertials, rump and tail. The underparts are white with black flank spots the bill and legs are yellow. Females and young birds have the same basic pattern, but the black is replaced by dark brown, and the white by light brown. The markings on the underside are scalier. The third primary is the longest followed by the fourth with the second and fifth being nearly equal in length. The first primary is reduced.
Where it lives
When to see it
Best months: January, February, March, April, May, June, November, December, with peak activity in May. It is a variable species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Pied Thrush?
- Males of this 22 cm (8.7 in) thrush are conspicuously black and white. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Pied Thrush?
- The Pied Thrush is a small sized bird weighing about 59 g.
- Where can you see a Pied Thrush?
- The Pied Thrush occurs in 4 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
- What birds look similar to a Pied Thrush?
- The Pied Thrush is most easily confused with the Spotted Ground Thrush, the Orange Ground Thrush and the Spot-winged Thrush.
- Is the Pied Thrush endangered?
- The Pied Thrush is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Pied Thrush for real
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