Birdfinding.info ⇒ Common during spring and fall migration across most of East Asia: eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. In winter, it can be found in the vicinity of several major Asian cities, including Bangkok, Taipei, Manila, and Singapore.
Eyebrowed Thrush
Turdus obscurus
Breeds in northeastern Asia. Winters in southeastern Asia.
Breeding. From late May to early September in dense taiga of eastern Russia from central Siberia east to Sakhalin and Kamchatka; also to the Commander Islands.
Nonbreeding. Widespread in all types of woodlands from Bhutan and Assam east to Taiwan and south to the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, and Sulawesi), and the Philippines.
Movements. Northbound migration occurs during April and May, and is largely synchronized, with large numbers moving through eastern China in early May. Arrives on the breeding grounds in late May.
Northbound migrants overshoot annually in numbers to Bering Sea islands and coasts of Alaska, especially the western Aleutians, but also to the central Aleutians, Pribilofs, and St. Lawrence Island.
Southbound migration is more protracted. Most depart the breeding grounds in mid-September. Arrives on its most southerly wintering grounds in late November or December.
Fall vagrants occur annually east to the Aleutians and other Bering Sea islands and southwest into India. Exceptionally strays farther east and south in western North America (to Hawaii’s Northwest Chain and California), west to western Europe (Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Spain), Israel, the Arabian Peninsula (U.A.E. and Oman), and south to both sides of Australia.
Identification
A typical Turdus thrush attired in pale, pastel earth-tones, with a prominent white brow-stripe and blackish lore framed below by a white undereye-crescent and chinstrap.
Adult male is more colorful than the other plumages. It has a gray hood, brown upperparts, pale orange breast and sides, and white belly.
The legs are orange and the bill is bicolored: dark above and orange or yellow below.
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Doi Angkang, Chiang Mai, Thailand; February 9, 2009.) © Peter Ericsson
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; May 12, 2018.) © Supaporn Teamwong
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Baihualing, Gaoligong Shan, Yunnan, China; December 29, 2017.) © Larry Chen
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; June 1, 2018.) © William Higgins
Yellow-fronted Canary, with limited yellow—possibly an immature. (Mai Po, Hong Kong; January 4, 2019.) © Wing Yan Ng
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India; November 5, 2018.) © Srikumar Bose
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Nangang Park, Taipei, Taiwan; December 15, 2017.) © Arlango Lee
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Doi Angkang, Chiang Mai, Thailand; February 18, 2009.) © Alex Vargas
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Zhongshan Park, Shanghai, China; November 24, 2017.) © Craig Brelsford
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; June 1, 2018.) © William Higgins
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Cádiz, Spain; February 25, 2018.) © Sergio Picó
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Shanghai, China; January 8, 2020.) © Yasuhiko Komatsu
Eyebrowed Thrush, male. (Heuksan Do, South Korea; May 9, 2009.) © Aurélien Audevard
Females and immatures have washed-out versions of the adult male plumage. Their upperparts are mostly grayish-brown, but the head is a bit grayer, and the cheeks and throat are finely streaked with white. The breast and sides are predominantly buffy or pale orangish-brown and the belly is whitish.
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Mae Fa Luang Arboretum, Chiang Rai, Thailand; January 8, 2020.) © Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Hong Kong; February 7, 2016.) © Lo Chun Fai
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Bang Pu Recreation Center, Samut Prakan, Thailand; March 23, 2019.) © Ben Weil
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Fang, Chiang Mai, Thailand; February 21, 2017.) © creaturesnapper
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha, India; April 13, 2018.) © Shyam Ghate
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Rabindra Sarovar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India; November 3, 2018.) © Abhishek Das
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India; November 4, 2018.) © Avisek Banerjee
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Mae Fa Luang Arboretum, Chiang Rai, Thailand; January 8, 2020.) © Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok
Eyebrowed Thrush, an exceptionally bright-orange individual. (Dobanki Island, Sunderban Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India; October 27, 2013.) © Sandip Das
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Doi Angkang, Chiang Mai, Thailand; February 9, 2009.) © Peter Ericsson
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Mae Fa Luang Arboretum, Chiang Rai, Thailand; January 8, 2020.) © Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Nanhui Dongtan, Shanghai, China; October 30, 2017.) © Vincent Wang
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Taichung, Taiwan; December 16, 2012.) © modrawnu1984
Eyebrowed Thrush, immature male. (Hong Kong; February 24, 2020.) © Oscar Ho
Eyebrowed Thrush. (Nanhui Dongtan, Shanghai, China; November 8, 2017.) © Kai Pflug
Eyebrowed Thrush, fledgling. (Yelizovsky, Elizovskiy Rayon, Kamchatka, Russia; June 25, 2019.) © Brooke A. Miller
Voice. Song is musical, consisting of brief fluted phrases and rich trills: Sometimes gives only isolated notes and phrases:
Cf. Gray-sided Thrush. Eyebrowed and Gray-sided Thrushes are close relatives with overlapping ranges and similar facial patterns, including prominent white brow-stripes. Eyebrowed is much more numerous and widespread, and more northerly in summer, but they overlap widely during migration and winter. Although females and immatures of the two species are generally similar, they are readily distinguishable. In particular, Eyebrowed’s breast and sides are predominantly buffy or clay-orange and its belly is whitish, whereas Gray-sided has entirely gray underparts. On the upperparts, Eyebrowed is grayish-brown whereas Gray-sided tends to appear warm-brown, sometimes dark or rusty, but not grayish.
Notes
Monotypic species.
References
Alderfer, J., and J.L. Dunn. 2014. National Geographic Complete Birds of North America (Second Edition). National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.
BirdLife International. 2016. Turdus obscurus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22708793A94177211. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22708793A94177211.en. (Accessed October 31, 2020.)
Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia. Princeton University Press.
Clement, P., R. Hathway, C. Byers, and J. Wilczur. 2000. Thrushes. Princeton University Press.
eBird. 2020. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed October 31, 2020.)
Mullarney, K., L. Svensson, D. Zetterström, and P.J. Grant. 1999. Birds of Europe. Princeton University Press.
Pyle, R.L., and P. Pyle. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. Version 2 (January 1, 2017). http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/. B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Robson, C. 2002. Birds of Thailand. Princeton University Press.
Sibley, D.A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf. New York.
Xeno-Canto. 2020. Eyebrowed Thrush – Turdus obscurus. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Turdus-obscurus. (Accessed October 31, 2020.)