Orange-headed Thrush
Encyclopedia
The Orange-headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina) is a bird
in the thrush
family.
It is common in well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent
and Southeast Asia
. Most populations are resident. The species shows a preference for shady damp areas, and like many Zoothera
thrushes, can be quite secretive.
The Orange-headed Thrush is omnivorous
, eating a wide range of insects, earthworm
s and fruit. It nests in trees but does not form flocks.
The male of this small thrush has uniform grey upperparts, and an orange head and underparts. The females and young birds have browner upper parts.
in 1790 as Turdus citrinus, the species name meaning "citrine
" and referencing the colour of the head and underparts. It has about 12 subspecies.
Rasmussen
and Anderton
(2005) suggest that this complex may consist of more than one species.
The Orange-headed Thrush breeds from north Pakistan
east through India and Sri Lanka
to southern China, and through Southeast Asia to Java
. Its habitat is moist broadleaved evergreen woodlands, with a medium-density undergrowth of bushes and fern
s, but it also utilises bamboo
forests and secondary growth. Z. c. cyanotus also occurs in large gardens and orchards.
This species is often found in damp areas, near streams or in shady ravines. It occurs between 250–1830 metres (825– 6040 ft) in the Himalayas and up to about 1500 metres (5000 ft) in Malaysia, Thailand and Java. Z. c. aurata is resident between 1000–1630 metres (3300–5400 ft) on Mt Kinabalu and Mt Trus Madi, northern Borneo. Some of the subspecies are completely or partially migratory; their wintering habitat is similar to the breeding forests, but more likely to be at lower altitudes.
The Orange-headed Thrush is 205–235 milliimetres (8.1–9.25 in) long and weighs 47–60 grammes (1.7–2.1 oz). The adult male of the nominate subspecies of this small thrush has an entirely orange head and underparts, uniformly grey upperparts and wings, and white median and undertail coverts. It has a slate-coloured bill and the legs and feet have brown fronts and pink or yellowish rears.
The female resembles the male but has browner or more olive upperparts and wram brown wings, but some old females are almost identical to the male. The juvenile is dull brown with buff streaks on its back, and a rufous tone to the head and face; it has grey wings. The bill is brownish horn, and the legs and feet are brown.
This species' orange and grey plumage is very distinctive, and it is unlikely to be confused with any other species. Differences between the subspecies, as described above, can be quite striking, as with the strong head pattern on Z. c. cyanotus, but may be less obvious variations in plumage tone, or whether there is white on the folded wing. As with other Zoothera thrushes, all forms of this species shows a distinctive underwing pattern, with a strong white band.
. It also includes imitations of other birds like bulbul
s, babbler
s and Common Tailorbird
. It sings from a perch in a leafy tree, mostly early morning and late afternoon.
_in_kolkata_i_img_3224.jpg)
The Orange-headed Thrush is a shy, secretive bird usually occurring alone or in pairs, but is comparatively more easily seen than many other Zoothera thrushes, and several birds may congregate outside the breeding season at a good food source. It has a swift, silent flight, but when disturbed will often sit motionless until the threat has passed.
trees and coffee
bushes being preferred. Three or four, occasionally five, eggs are laid; they are cream or tinted with pale blue, grey or green, and have pale lilac blotches and reddish brown spots. They are incubated for 13–14 days to hatching, with another 12 days until the young birds leave the nest.
This species is a host of the Pied Cuckoo
, Clamator jacobinus, a brood parasite
which lay a single egg in the nest. Unlike the Common Cuckoo
, neither the hen nor the hatched chick evict the host's eggs, but the host’s young often die because they cannot compete successfully with the cuckoo
for food. The Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
, Clamator coromandus, and, very rarely, the Common Cuckoo
, Cuculus canorus have also been claimed as parasites on this species.
s and fruit. In Malaysia, wintering birds regularly feed on figs.
.
It is very popular as cage-bird on Java, and numbers have severely declined in recent years owing to trapping for aviculture
. Against the trend in Southeast Asia where loss or fragmentation of woodland poses a threat to forest birds, the Orange-headed Thrush has colonized Hong Kong, where it was first recorded in 1956, thanks to forest maturation.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the thrush
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
family.
It is common in well-wooded areas of the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. Most populations are resident. The species shows a preference for shady damp areas, and like many Zoothera
Asian thrush
The Asian thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Zoothera of the thrush family Turdidae.Two New World species traditionally regarded as Zoothera; actually belong elsewhere in the thrush family...
thrushes, can be quite secretive.
The Orange-headed Thrush is omnivorous
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
, eating a wide range of insects, earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s and fruit. It nests in trees but does not form flocks.
The male of this small thrush has uniform grey upperparts, and an orange head and underparts. The females and young birds have browner upper parts.
Taxonomy
This species was first described by John LathamJohn Latham (ornithologist)
John Latham was an English physician, naturalist and author. He was born at Eltham in Kent, and was the eldest son of John Latham, a surgeon there, and his mother was a descendant of the Sothebys, in Yorkshire....
in 1790 as Turdus citrinus, the species name meaning "citrine
Citrine (colour)
Citrine is a colour, derived from coloured varieties of quartz, and variously described as yellow, greenish-yellow, brownish yellow or orange. Actually, as can be ascertained by inspecting its h value, citrine is a medium dark shade of golden yellow...
" and referencing the colour of the head and underparts. It has about 12 subspecies.
Rasmussen
Pamela C. Rasmussen
Professor Pamela Cecile Rasmussen is a prominent American ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., and is based at the Michigan State University...
and Anderton
John C. Anderton
John C. Anderton is an American ornithologist and bird illustrator.His work includes painting 69 of the 180 plates in Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide, written with professor Pamela C. Rasmussen.The book's covers are also illustrated by Anderton...
(2005) suggest that this complex may consist of more than one species.
- Z. c. citrina, the nominate subspecies breeds from northern Pakistan east along the HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
to eastern BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and possibly in western and northern Burma. It wintersBird migrationBird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
further south in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. - Z. c. cyanotus is mainly resident in Peninsular India south to KeralaKeralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. It has a white throat and face sides, with two black stripes running downwards from below the eyes. The spelling emendation cyanota is suggested by Rasmussen and Anderton. - Z. c. amadoni (not always recognized) found in northeastern part of peninsular India (Madhya Pradesh and Orissa) has brighter orange crown and longer wings than cyanotus.
- Z. c. innotata breeds through most of South-East Asia from southern Burma and southwestern China to northwest ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, central and southern LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and southern VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. It winter further south in southern Burma, and much of the rest of Thailand into Malaysia. It is very similar to the nominate but the male is brighter or deeper orange and lacks white tips to the median covertsCovert (feather)A covert feather on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail.- Wing-coverts :...
; the female is duller on head and underparts, with an olive tinge to the grey of the mantle and back. - Z. c. melli breeds in southeastern China, and is partially migratory, regularly wintering in Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. - Z. c. courtoisi breeds in eastern-central China; its wintering range is unknown.
- Z. c. aurimacula breeds in southern Vietnam, HainanHainanHainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
and possibly northern Laos. It resembles Z. c. cyanotus, but with a less defined head pattern. The face and neck-sides are whitish but flecked with orange or brownish and with weaker face stripes. The orange breast and flanks become paler orange on the belly and lower flanks. - Z. c. andamensis is resident in the Andaman IslandsAndaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
. - Z. c. albogularis is resident in the Nicobar IslandsNicobar IslandsThe Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...
. - Z. c. gibsonhilli breeds from southern Burma to southern Thailand, and winters further south at lower levels in Peninsular Thailand, on islands in the Gulf of ThailandGulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand , also known in to Malays as Teluk Siam literally meant Gulf of Siam, is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:...
, and into Malaysia. It is similar to the nominate subspecies, but averages slightly brighter or deeper orange on head and upperparts and also has a slightly longer, heavier bill, and white tips to the median coverts. - Z. c. aurata is resident in the mountains of northern BorneoBorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. - Z. c. rubecula is resident in Western Java.
- Z. c. orientis is resident in Eastern Java and BaliBaliBali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
and intergrades with Z. c. rubecula in the west of its range. The separation of this form from the western Javan subspecies has been questioned.
Measurements
The following table summarises selected physical measurements for those subspecies for which the data is available.| Subspecies | |Length (mm) | Tail (mm) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Z. c. citrina | 162-168 | 46-48 | 76-81 |
| Z. c. cyanotus | 165-170 | 42-46 | 74-79 |
| Z. c. andamanensis | 150-158 | 43-45 | 65-78 |
| Z. c. albogularis | 155-165 | 44-48 | 68-79 |
Distribution and habitat
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
east through India and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
to southern China, and through Southeast Asia to Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
. Its habitat is moist broadleaved evergreen woodlands, with a medium-density undergrowth of bushes and fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s, but it also utilises bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
forests and secondary growth. Z. c. cyanotus also occurs in large gardens and orchards.
This species is often found in damp areas, near streams or in shady ravines. It occurs between 250–1830 metres (825– 6040 ft) in the Himalayas and up to about 1500 metres (5000 ft) in Malaysia, Thailand and Java. Z. c. aurata is resident between 1000–1630 metres (3300–5400 ft) on Mt Kinabalu and Mt Trus Madi, northern Borneo. Some of the subspecies are completely or partially migratory; their wintering habitat is similar to the breeding forests, but more likely to be at lower altitudes.
Description
The female resembles the male but has browner or more olive upperparts and wram brown wings, but some old females are almost identical to the male. The juvenile is dull brown with buff streaks on its back, and a rufous tone to the head and face; it has grey wings. The bill is brownish horn, and the legs and feet are brown.
This species' orange and grey plumage is very distinctive, and it is unlikely to be confused with any other species. Differences between the subspecies, as described above, can be quite striking, as with the strong head pattern on Z. c. cyanotus, but may be less obvious variations in plumage tone, or whether there is white on the folded wing. As with other Zoothera thrushes, all forms of this species shows a distinctive underwing pattern, with a strong white band.
Voice
Calls of the Orange-headed Thrush include a soft chuk or tchuk, a screeching teer-teer-teer, and a thin tsee or dzef given in flight. However, this bird is generally silent especially in winter. The song is a loud clear series of variably sweet lilting musical notes, recalling the quality of the Common Blackbird, but with the more repetitive structure of the Song ThrushSong Thrush
The Song Thrush is a thrush that breeds across much of Eurasia. It is also known in English dialects as throstle or mavis. It has brown upperparts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies...
. It also includes imitations of other birds like bulbul
Bulbul
Bulbuls are a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds. Many forest species are known as greenbuls. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical Asia to Indonesia, and north as far as Japan. A few insular species occur on the tropical islands...
s, babbler
Old World babbler
The Old World babblers or timaliids are a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent...
s and Common Tailorbird
Common Tailorbird
The Common Tailorbird is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are...
. It sings from a perch in a leafy tree, mostly early morning and late afternoon.
Behaviour
Breeding
The nest, built by both sexes, is a wide but shallow cup of twigs, bracken and rootlets lined with softer plant material like leaves, moss and conifer needles. It is constructed at a height of up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) in a small tree or bush, with mangoMango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
trees and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
bushes being preferred. Three or four, occasionally five, eggs are laid; they are cream or tinted with pale blue, grey or green, and have pale lilac blotches and reddish brown spots. They are incubated for 13–14 days to hatching, with another 12 days until the young birds leave the nest.
This species is a host of the Pied Cuckoo
Pied Cuckoo
The Jacobin Cuckoo, Pied Cuckoo, or Pied Crested Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds that is found in Africa and Asia. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the Monsoon rains due to the timing of its arrival...
, Clamator jacobinus, a brood parasite
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
which lay a single egg in the nest. Unlike the Common Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo
The Common Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals....
, neither the hen nor the hatched chick evict the host's eggs, but the host’s young often die because they cannot compete successfully with the cuckoo
Cuckoo
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
for food. The Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
The Chestnut-winged Cuckoo or Red-winged Crested Cuckoo is a cuckoo found in Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It has dark glossy upperparts, a black head with long crest chestnut wings, a long graduated glossy black tail, rufous throat dusky underside and a narrow white nuchal half collar...
, Clamator coromandus, and, very rarely, the Common Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo
The Common Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals....
, Cuculus canorus have also been claimed as parasites on this species.
Feeding
The Orange-headed Thrush feeds on the ground in dense undergrowth or other thick cover. It is most active at dawn and dusk, probing the leaf litter for insect and their larvae, spiders, other invertebrateInvertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s and fruit. In Malaysia, wintering birds regularly feed on figs.
Status
The Orange-headed Thrush has an extensive range, estimated at 1–10 million square kilometres (0.4–3.8 million sq mi), The population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as “frequent” in at least parts of its range. The species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the global population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as Least ConcernLeast Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
.
It is very popular as cage-bird on Java, and numbers have severely declined in recent years owing to trapping for aviculture
Aviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds and the culture that forms around it. Aviculture is generally focused on not only the raising and breeding of birds, but also on preserving avian habitat, and public awareness campaigns....
. Against the trend in Southeast Asia where loss or fragmentation of woodland poses a threat to forest birds, the Orange-headed Thrush has colonized Hong Kong, where it was first recorded in 1956, thanks to forest maturation.