|
Thrushes
The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycatchers. Thrushes are small to medium-sized ground living birds that feed on insects, other invertebrates, and fruit. Some unrelated species around the world have been named after thrushes due to their similarity to birds in this family. Characteristics Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds that inhabit wooded areas and often feed on the ground. The smallest thrush may be the shortwings, which have ambiguous alliances with both thrushes and Old World flycatchers. The lesser shortwing averages . The largest thrush is the great thrush at and ; the larger, commonly recognized blue whistling thrush is an Old world flycatcher. The Amami thrush might, however, grow larger than the great thrush. Most species are grey o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Thrush
The great thrush (''Turdus fuscater'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. It is considered as the largest thrush in South America. The great thrush's size distinguishes it from the several other uniform slaty-colored thrushes in its range. It inhabits subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and high-altitude shrubland, but can also make use of degraded forest and urban areas. Subspecies Seven subspecies are recognized: * ''T. f. fuscater'' (d´Orbigny, Lafresnaye, 1837). The nominate subspecies can be found in west Bolivia. * ''T. f. cacozelus'' (Bangs, 1898). It can be found in the Santa Marta mountain range in Colombia. * ''T. f. clarus'' (Phelps, Phelps, 1953). Inhabits the frontier between Venezuela and Colombia, in the Sierra del Perijá. * ''T. f. quindio'' (Chapman, 1925). This subspecies is found in south Colombia and the north of Ecuador. * ''T. f. gigas'' (Fraser, 1841). It is native to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groundscraper Thrush
The groundscraper thrush (''Turdus litsitsirupa'') is a passerine bird of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the thrush family, Turdidae. It was previously considered the only member of the genus ''Psophocichla'', but phylogenetic analysis supports it belonging in the genus '' Turdus'', of which it is the most basal species. It is long with an erect posture, short tail, heavy bill and fairly long legs. The upperparts are plain grey-brown with a chestnut wing-panel. The underparts are white with black spots and the face is white with bold black markings. The underwing has a black and white pattern which is visible during the undulating flight. The bird has a slow whistled song and a clicking call. There are three subspecies; ''T. l. litsitsirupa'' is the most southerly form, occurring from Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique south to northern and eastern parts of South Africa. ''T. l. pauciguttata'' is found in southern Angola, northern Namibia and north-west Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Whistling Thrush
The blue whistling thrush (''Myophonus caeruleus'') is a bird in the Old World flycatchers family Muscicapidae that is found in the mountains of Central Asia, South Asia, China and Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. The widely distributed populations show variations in size and plumage with several of them considered as subspecies. Like others in the genus, they feed on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects. Taxonomy The blue whistling thrush was formally described in 1786 by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli under the binomial name ''Gracula caerulea''. The specific epithet is from Latin ''caeruleus'' meaning "blue". Scopoli based his account on "Le Merle blue de la Chine" that had been described and illustrated in 1782 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in his book ''Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine''. The type locality has been restricted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World Flycatcher
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and northern wheatear (''Oenanthe oenanthe''), found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The family is relatively large and includes 357 species, which are divided into 57 genera. Taxonomy The name Muscicapa for the family was introduced by the Scottish naturalist John Fleming in 1822. The word had earlier been used for the genus '' Muscicapa'' by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Muscicapa comes from the Latin '' musca'' meaning a fly, and '' capere'' to catch. In 1910, the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert found it impossible to define boundaries between the three families Muscicapidae, Sylviidae (Old World warblers) and Tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous passerine birds in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. Bluebirds lay an average of 4 to 6 eggs per clutch. They will usually brood two or three times in a year. Bluebirds nest from March all the way through August. Bluebirds have blue, or blue and rose beige, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size. Taxonomy and species The genus ''Sialia'' was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827 with the eastern bluebird (''Sialia sialis'') as the type species. A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial sequences published in 2005 found that ''Sialia'', '' Myadestes'' (solitaires) and '' Neocossyphus'' (African ant-thrushes) formed a basal clade in the family Turdidae. Within ''Sialia'' t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amami Thrush
The Amami thrush (''Zoothera major'') is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It is endemic to the islands of Amami Ōshima and Kakeroma island in the northern Nansei Islands of Japan. Description This large, heavily patterned thrush is similar in appearance to the scaly thrush, to which was considered a subspecies. It has warm olive-brown to buff upperparts and whitish underparts with heavy black scaling. It has twelve tail feathers. The scaly thrush is smaller and has fourteen tail feathers. It has a cheerful song similar to the Siberian thrush. The Amami thrush ranges in length from and weighs approximately . Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the bill is and the tarsus is .Peter Clement (2001) ''Thrushes''. Princeton University Press. Behaviour and ecology Its breeding habitat is mature subtropical broadleaved evergreen forest around humid valleys. Its diet includes invertebrates and fruit. It breeds in May and June, laying 3-4 egg An egg is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Robin
The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in the British Isles, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is Sedentism, sedentary in the west and south of its range, and bird migration, migratory in the north and east of its range where winters are harsher. It is in length; the male and female are identical in plumage, with an orange-toned red breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly. Juveniles are distinct, freckled brown all over and without the red breast; first-winter immatures are like the adults, except for more obvious yellow-brown tips to the wing covert feathers (inconspicuous or absent in adults). Etymology The distinctive orange breast of both sexes contributed to the European robin's original name of "redbreast", ''orange'' as a colour name being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turdinae
Turdinae (the turdine thrushes) are a subfamily of passerine birds in the family Turdidae. They are the sister clade to the subfamily Myadestinae. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the Serravallian The Serravallian is, in the geologic timescale, an List of time periods, age or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the middle Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series, which spans the time between 13.82 annum, Ma and 11.63 Ma (m .... Within the turdines they can split into three subgroups: '' Zoothera'' occupying a basal position, the second consisting of forest thrush genera ('' Ixoreus'', '' Ridgwayia'', '' Cichlopsis'', '' Entomodestes'', '' Hylocichla'', and '' Catharus'') and the remaining group closer to '' Turdus'' ('' Chlamydochaera'', '' Cochoa'', '' Geokichla'', and ''Turdus''). References {{taxonbar, from=Q23908018 * Bird subfamilies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myadestinae
Myadestinae (the turdid solitaires) are a subfamily of passerine birds in the family Thrush (bird), Turdidae. Members of this group have been noted by ornithologists to be rather unusual in that they lack the typical diagnostic traits seen in the "true" thrushes of the sister subfamily Turdinae. Examples of including the lack Syrinx (bird anatomy), syringeal morphology seen in turdines and the feeding ecology of myadestines being similar to those of Old World flycatchers. A 2005 molecular study from Klicka et al. found support in a basal clade consisting of the genera ''Bluebird, Sialia'', ''Neocossyphus'', ''Stizorhina'', and ''Myadestes'' to be sister to the rest of the thrushes. The divergence between myadestines and turdines occurred 11 million years ago in the Serravallian. Genera References Turdidae, * Thrushes, Bird subfamilies Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird {{Turdidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family (, : ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family—or whether a described family should be acknowledged—is established and decided upon by active taxonomists. There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to a lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abiotic
In biology and ecology, abiotic components or abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. Abiotic factors and the phenomena associated with them underpin biology as a whole. They affect a plethora of species, in all forms of environmental conditions, such as marine or terrestrial animals. Humans can make or change abiotic factors in a species' environment. For instance, fertilizers can affect a snail's habitat, or the greenhouse gases which humans utilize can change marine pH levels. Abiotic components include physical conditions and non-living resources that affect living organisms in terms of growth, maintenance, and reproduction. Resources are distinguished as substances or objects in the environment required by one organism and consumed or otherwise made unavailable for use by other organisms. Component degradation of a substance occurs by chemical or physical processes, e.g. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nightingale
The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats. Etymology "Nightingale" is derived from "night" and the Old English ''galan'', "to sing". The genus name ''Luscinia'' is Latin for "nightingale" and ''megarhynchos'' is from Ancient Greek ''megas'', "great" and ''rhunkhos'' "bill". Subspecies *Western nightingale (''L. m. megarhynchos'') – western Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, wintering in tropical Africa *Caucasian nightingale (''L. m. africana'') – the Caucasus and eastern Turkey to southwestern Iran and Iraq, wintering in East Africa *Eastern nightingale (''L. m. golzii'') – the Aral Sea to Mongolia, wintering in co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
