- Turdus nigriceps
Identification
19–21.5 cm Male
- Slate-grey upperparts with darker head
- Underparts slightly lighter
- White throat with dark streaks but not white crescent at the lower end
- Yellow legs and bill
Female
- Somewhat browner than male both above and below
Variation
Male becomes paler in the dark grey areas as one moves south.
Distribution
South America: Breeds in the Andes of southwestern Ecuador to northwestern Peru, and again in southern Bolivia and north-western Argentina. In non-breeding season found on the east side of the Andes from Ecuador to Bolivia.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Genetic research determined that this species and Blacksmith Thrush are not closely related even though they formerly were lumped together under the name of Slaty Thrush.
Habitat
Most common in Yungas woodland at 600-1500 m asl, but reaches up into the Alder woodland above this elevation. Elevation range varies geographically and may vary more in non-breeding areas.
Behaviour
At least a partial migrant, occurring in Peru only to mostly during Austral winter.
Vocalisation
Described as a series of rather high-pitch, jumbled phrases.
Diet
Their main diet consists of fruit, supplemented with snails, beetles, flies etc.
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/
- Avibase
- SACC proposal to split Blacksmith Thrush from Andean Slaty Thrush
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2014)
- Collar, N. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Andean Slaty Thrush (Turdus nigriceps), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.slathr2.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Andean Slaty Thrush. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Andean_Slaty_Thrush
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
