The red-throated thrush is a passerine bird in the thrush family. It is sometimes regarded as one subspecies of a polytypic species, "dark-throated thrush", black-throated thrush then being the other subspecies. More recent treatments regard the two as separate species. The scientific name comes from Latin. Turdus is "thrush" and the specific ruficollis is derived from rufus, "red", and collum, "neck".
Region
Siberia and East Asia
Typical Environment
Breeds in open taiga and mixed woodland across eastern Siberia, favoring larch, birch, and willow along river valleys and forest edges. During migration it uses shrubby steppe, riparian belts, and farmland hedgerows. In winter it occurs widely in eastern China and the Korean Peninsula, frequenting parks, orchards, and wooded urban green spaces. It is a rare vagrant to Japan and occasionally to Western Europe, typically after strong easterly winds.
Altitude Range
0–2500 m
Climate Zone
Continental
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The red-throated thrush is a Siberian-breeding thrush split by most authorities from the black-throated thrush. Males show a distinctive rufous to brick-red throat, while females and immatures are duller with a more limited wash of rufous. It winters mainly in East Asia and is an occasional vagrant to Europe. Like many thrushes, it forages on the ground but readily switches to berries in autumn and winter.
Temperament
wary and alert
Flight Pattern
strong, direct flight with short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in pairs during the breeding season, nesting low in trees or shrubs in a neat cup of grasses and twigs. Pairs are monogamous within the season. In winter it often joins loose flocks, sometimes mixing with other thrushes at fruiting trees.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
The song is a subdued, fluty series of clear whistles and short phrases delivered from a perch, most active at dawn. Calls include sharp chacks and thin, sibilant tseep notes in flight.
Plumage
Clean gray-brown upperparts with paler underparts; males show a rich rufous throat and upper breast with contrasting whitish belly and fine dark scaling on the flanks. Females and immatures are browner with a paler, sometimes faintly rufous throat and more diffuse flank streaking.
Diet
Eats insects, beetles, caterpillars, and earthworms during the breeding season, gleaning and probing on the ground and in leaf litter. In autumn and winter it relies heavily on berries and fruits such as rowan, juniper, and hawthorn. It may also take small snails and other invertebrates opportunistically.
Preferred Environment
Forages on open ground within forest edges, clearings, riverbanks, and tundra scrub in the breeding range. In winter it frequents fruiting shrubs in parks, gardens, orchards, and wooded farmlands.
