BIRD SPECIES

Bare-eyed Thrush

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Turdus nudigenis

The Bare-eyed Thrush, also called as the Spectacled Thrush or Yellow-eyed Thrush, and it is also known as the “Big Eye Grieve”. All these names come from the broad, bare, yellow eye–ring.

They are about 9.06 - 9.45 inches in length and weigh about 50 -75 grams.

Males have dull olive-brown upperparts, including wings and tail. Underparts are paler. Chin and throat are white streaked with brown.

Breast and neck sides are whitish to grayish-buff. Flanks are similar in color but darker. Belly, vent and undertail coverts are white. Undertail feathers are brown.

Under wing coverts are similar to flanks, with variable coloration in coverts’ tips, from whitish, to orange and creamy-white. Head is brown, bill is yellow with black top at base of upper mandible.

Eyes are reddish-brown, with conspicuous bare, yellow eye-ring. Legs and feet are grayish- brown.

Both sexes are similar, and both are grayer in worn plumage.

Juveniles resemble adults, but they have narrower eye-ring. They have two orange- spotted wing bars. Underparts are pale buff with dark brown mottling on breast.

Belly and vent are whitish. Head and mantle plumage are dull brown with pale buff streaks.

CALL: A cat-like “meow”, or a more musical “chareera”, also a harsh “tak- tak-tak”. Contact call is a monosyllabic frog-like note.

SONG: Utters a melodious song, a series of sweet, fluted phrases and ringing trills with frequent pauses. It sings from high exposed perch all the year, but more from April to August.

Feeds mainly on fruit and berries. It also takes several kinds of invertebrates such as caterpillars, beetles, moths and earthworms.

Semi-open and dry scrubby areas with scattered groves of trees, gallery forest borders, woodlands, parks and gardens.

A resident in the Lesser Antilles, and in northern parts of South America, in Colombia and Venezuela, and northern Brazil. Also, in Trinidad and Tobago.

Nest is a bulky cup made with grasses, several plant materials and mud. Interior is lined with rootlets, and often with mud.

The female collects mud near water, and uses it as reinforcing material. This mud plays the role of insulating from weather conditions such as temperatures and rains.

She usually lays 3 - 4 blue to pale blue- green eggs, with varied markings.

SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com