Varied Thrush
Collar choke, females
The collar choke ( Ixoreus naevius ) is a colorfully drawn style of the thrush family, which is found only in the Nearctic. It is the only extant representative of the genus Ixoreus. There are two subspecies. The IUCN classifies them as uncritical ( least concern ).
Appearance
The collar choke reaches a body length of 23-28 centimeters. The wingspan is 38 to 42 centimeters. The weight varies between 75 and 85 grams. The legs and feet are pink satin.
The males have a black, almost purple shimmering top of the head and neck in breeding plumage. A wide, bright orange-brown eyes glancing over runs from the eye in a semicircle to the nape of the neck. The forehead is black. A black wide stripe runs from the beak base over his eyes. The beak is dark gray, the iris is dark brown. The throat and upper breast are orange -brown. On the underparts, this Orange Brown lightens toward rump to continue, so that the rump and under tail-coverts are almost white. The tail is black violet.
The females are generally slightly matt colored than the males. The eye line is pale purplish black, the chest strap is more gray than black and the underparts is paler than the male. Young birds resemble the female, but are paler colored.
Distribution area
The breeding range of the collar choke extends in western North America from Alaska to northern California. They only lack the extreme north and on the northwest Pacific coast. As habitat preferred the collar choke damp forests and forest edges. But also occurs in wetlands and tundra. It is a migratory bird and northern populations wintering in southern areas of its range in the western United States. Southern populations show and in winter often erratic train movements, sometimes only altitudes will probably leave.
Way of life
The collar choke eats insects, seeds and fruits. The food spectrum of wintering birds maple seeds plays a greater role.
During the winter months collar chokes are occasionally observed in single squads. However, during the breeding season the males are territorial and show their station ownership, among other things by singing to. Collar chokes are entering into a monogamous marriage season.
The nest is usually built in forks of branches and is located high above the ground. According to current knowledge builds only the female's nest. It used for nesting twigs, bark and grass. The Nistmulde is lined with finer grass. The nest usually consists of three to four pale blue eggs. These are brown speckled either without any marking or light. The incubation period is 14 days. It broods alone the female. At the breeding birds both parents are involved, are brooded the young birds but by the female alone. The young birds fledge 13 to 15 days.