Swainson's Thrush - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies
Photo © by Joseph Morlan
San Bruno Mountain, San Mateo County, California, USA, 8 May 2020

Catharus ustulatus

Identification

16–20 cm (6¼-7¾ in)

Brown upperparts (olive-brown on Eastern birds, reddish-brown on Western birds)
White underparts
Brown flanks
Lighter brown breast with darker spots
Pink legs
Light brown eye ring

Subspecies swainsoni
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Wildsumaco Lodge, Napo Province, Ecuador, 26 January 2016

Distribution

Breeds virtually throughout North America from Alaska to California. Wintering in the West Indies, and Central and South America from Mexico to Argentina.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Six subspecies are recognised^[1]:
Russet-backed

C. u. ustulatus:

Coastal south-eastern Alaska to southern Oregon; winters to western Mexico

C. u. phillipsi:

Breeds on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada; winters from Mexico to northern Nicaragua

C. u. oedicus:

Breeds in California (coast ranges east to the west slope of the Sierra Nevada); winters from north-western Mexico south to Nicaragua

Olive-backed

C. u. incanus:

Breeds in central and eastern Alaska and north-western Canada (south to northern British Columbia and north central Alberta); winters in South America (Colombia to Peru)

C. u. appalachiensis:

Breeds in the north-eastern United States (New Hampshire and central New York south to Virginia; winters in South America (Colombia to Peru)

C. u. swainsoni:

Breeds from western Canada (British Columbia and Alberta) south to Great Basin region and north central and north-eastern northern United States (north of the range of appalachiensis) and east to eastern Canada; winters from Panama south to Bolivia and north-western Argentina

Habitat

Coniferous and mixed woodland. Douglas fir on coasts.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of invertebrates and fruit.

Breeding

They build a cup nest on a horizontal tree branch.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Mack, D. E. and W. Yong (2020). Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.swathr.01
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, March 12). Swainson's thrush. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:10, May 12, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swainson%27s_thrush&oldid=945174666
BirdForum member observations
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2019. Swainson's Thrush in: All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/ Accessed on 12May 2020.

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Swainson's Thrush. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Swainson%27s_Thrush

External Links

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