Brown-headed Thrush Turdus chrysolaus is a scarce passage migrant through northern and central coastal China, including Shanghai; winters southeast China, including Hainan. Also winters Taiwan. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Woodland and open land, including parks and agricultural land. Rarely strays far from cover. ID & COMPARISON Adult male has uniformly brown upperparts, a brownish-black hood, and cinnamon-orange breast and flanks. Central belly and vent white. Female head brown; throat pale with streaks. Faint eye-ring. Distinguished from Eyebrowed Thrush T. obscurus by absence of supercilium in male and female and by weak eyebrow in juvenile. VOICE Pleasant, three-syllable song. Calls chuck, chuck in alarm. — Craig Brelsford
THE TRUE THRUSHES OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com has research on all 24 species in the genus Turdus in China. Click any link:
Chinese Thrush Turdus mupinensis
Song Thrush T. philomelos
Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus
Chinese Blackbird T. mandarinus
Redwing T. iliacus
Common Blackbird T. merula
Grey-winged Blackbird T. boulboul
Tickell’s Thrush T. unicolor
Black-breasted Thrush T. dissimilis
Japanese Thrush T. cardis
Grey-backed Thrush T. hortulorum
Eyebrowed Thrush T. obscurus
Pale Thrush T. pallidus
Grey-sided Thrush T. feae
Brown-headed Thrush T. chrysolaus
Tibetan Blackbird T. maximus
White-backed Thrush T. kessleri
Fieldfare T. pilaris
Black-throated Thrush T. atrogularis
Red-throated Thrush T. ruficollis
Dusky Thrush T. eunomus
Naumann’s Thrush T. naumanni
Chestnut Thrush T. rubrocanus
White-collared Blackbird T. albocinctus
See also:
Taiwan Thrush Turdus niveiceps
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
