Clay-colored Thrush

I’ve been seeing the Clay colored Thrush in my yard for about a week now.  This morning he was at the bird bath. Photo courtesy of Jared Dawson.

 

 

FAMILY DESCRIPTION

9-10 1/2″ (23-27 cm). Resembles a pale, tawny-beige American Robin. Head and upperparts grayish to tawny brown; bill yellow; legs pale; throat pale with dusky streaking; underparts buff. Juvenile upperparts cinnamon-flecked, underparts mottled and spotted brown.

VOICE

Song a series of rich, variable phrases; likened to a sweet call of American Robin; also clucking call notesand thin, high-pitched flight call.

HABITAT

Open or semi-open areas, usually with associated trees; also forest edges, gardens, suburban lots. Tends to forage on the ground or in low- or mid-level shrubs, singly or in pairs. The exception is at fruiting trees, where groups may feed in the canopy.

RANGE

Resident from eastern Mexico to Columbia; occurs casually in lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

DISCUSSION

The Clay-colored Robin is a scarce but regular vagrant to the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where it occasionally breeds. Most sightings occur in winter. In Panama, this species elects to breed in the dry season, despite limited food availability, presumably because the danger from predation is less.

NESTING

2-4 pale blue-toned eggs in heavy cup nest of mud, moss and grasses