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:
Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum
Tickell’s Thrush T. unicolor
Black-breasted Thrush T. dissimilis
Japanese Thrush T. cardis
White-collared Blackbird T. albocinctus
Grey-winged Blackbird T. boulboul
Common Blackbird T. merula
Chinese Blackbird T. mandarinus
Tibetan Blackbird T. maximus
Chestnut Thrush T. rubrocanus
White-backed Thrush T. kessleri
Grey-sided Thrush T. feae
Eyebrowed Thrush T. obscurus
Pale Thrush T. pallidus
Brown-headed Thrush T. chrysolaus
Black-throated Thrush T. atrogularis
Red-throated Thrush T. ruficollis
Naumann’s Thrush T. naumanni
Dusky Thrush T. eunomus
Fieldfare T. pilaris
Redwing T. iliacus
Song Thrush T. philomelos
Chinese Thrush T. mupinensis
Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus
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.
