Sooty Thrush

Rußdrossel (Turdus nigrescens )

The Rußdrossel (Turdus nigrescens ) is a large growing thrushes, which is endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.

Appearance

The Rußdrossel is 24 to 25.5 cm long and weighs on average 96 g The adult male is brownish - black with black wings and tail. It has a black area between the orange beak and the eye. The legs and the bare eye-ring are orange, iris light gray. The female looks similar, but is brown and slightly paler and has yellow- orange bare parts. The young resemble the adult female. They have orange stripes on the head and the upper plumage and dark spots on the bottom.

Lifestyle and behavior

The species lives in areas of open space and preferred to oak forest edges. The Rußdrossel inhabited areas, which are generally over 2200 m above sea level. It builds in trees lined with grass nests 2-8 m above the ground. The female lays in two inconspicuous, greenish- blue eggs from March to May

The Rußdrossel eating on the floor, individually or in pairs. Main food sources provide insects, spiders and fruit dar. (especially the heather family and numerous Solanaceae )

She is famous for her singing with throat sounds.

Swell

• Peter Clement, Ren Hathaway: Thrushes. A & C Black Publishers Ltd, London 2000, ISBN 978-0713639407.
• Frank Gary Stiles, Dana Gardner, Alexander Frank Skutch: A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1990, ISBN 978-0801496004.