Wood Thrush
Hylocichla mustelina
Thrush family (Turdidae)

Habitat:
Mature deciduous forest.

Description:
Large thrush, 7” long.  Bright reddish-brown head; brown back, wings and tail; large dark spots on breast and upper belly; thin white eye ring.

Nesting:
Builds a large bulky nest on a fork of a sapling or tree, usually 10 feet above the ground.  Eggs are light blue.  Clutch size – 3 to 4 eggs.

Voice:
Song is a series of whistled flutelike notes preceded by lower pitched repeated notes, “bub bub eee-oh-lay, bup bup ah-o-lee”.  Varies pitch of notes with each round of singing.  Males sing frequently, especially in the early morning and early evening.  Call is a loud “pit pit pit”, like a soft machine gun, given if there is a disturbance near their nest.

Name Origin:
Hylocichla:  hyle, Greek for “forest”; cichla, Greek for “thrush”; mustelina, Latin for “weasel-like”, for its tawny color

In the Nature Park:
Neotropical migrant, arriving in early to mid-May, begins nesting by early June.  Wood Thrush nests in the Nature Park are frequently parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds.  We found one nest with 4 cowbird eggs and another nest with 6 cowbird eggs.