Pied thrush

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Species of bird

title: "Pied thrush" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["geokichla", "endemic-birds-of-the-himalayas", "birds-of-nepal", "birds-described-in-1843", "taxa-named-by-edward-blyth"] description: "Species of bird" topic_path: "general/geokichla" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_thrush" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of bird ::

| image=ZootheraWardiiKeulemans.jpg | image_caption = Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans | image2=Pied thrush.ogg | image2_caption=Calls | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = | genus = Geokichla | species = wardii | authority = (Blyth, 1843) | synonyms = Zoothera wardii Turdulus wardii Turdus wardii protonym

The pied thrush (Geokichla wardii) is a member of the thrush family found in India and Sri Lanka. The males are conspicuously patterned in black and white while the females are olive brown and speckled. They breed in the central Himalayan forests and winter in the hill forests of southern India and Sri Lanka. Like many other thrushes, they forage on leaf litter below forest undergrowth and fly into trees when disturbed and sit still making them difficult to locate.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Geokichla_wardii_-Nandi_Hills,_Karnataka,India-male-8.jpg" caption="url=https://archive.org/stream/faunaofbritishin02oate#page/137/mode/1up}} The third primary is the longest followed by the fourth with the second and fifth being nearly equal in length. The first primary is reduced."] ::

The bill is not as strongly curved as that of the dark-sided thrush or the long-billed thrush and the female lacks the prominent pale cheek spot of the similar looking female Siberian thrush.

The binomial commemorates Samuel Neville Ward (1813–1897), a British colonial administrator in India from 1832 to 1863. Jerdon and Charles Darwin corresponded with S.N. Ward who worked in the Madras Civil Service, posted for sometime at Sirsi and was known for his natural history studies and artistic talent.

Thomas C. Jerdon who first obtained a specimen of the species from Ward notes: ::quote This Pied Blackbird is spread, but very sparingly, through the Himalayas, and during the winter in the plains of India. I first procured it, through Mr. Ward, from the foot of the Neilgherries, and afterwards obtained two specimens at Nellore in the Carnatic. ::

The species was variously placed in the past and for a long time in the genus Zoothera along with many other thrushes but molecular phylogenetic studies in 2008 clarified the phylogeny and the requirements for monophyly of the genera led to the older genus Geokichla being resurrected. The genus Zoothera now contains species that are not strongly sexually dimorphic unlike Geokichla. The pied thrush's closest relative is the Siberian thrush Geokichla sibirica.

Distribution

|cladogram = | label1=Asian |1= {{clade |1=G. sibirica |2={{clade |label1= |1={{clade |1=G. wardii |label2= |2={{clade |label1=African |1={{clade |label1= |1={{clade |1=G. cameronensis |2=G. princei |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. gurneyi |label2= |2={{clade |label1= |1={{clade |1=G. crossleyi |2=G. oberlaenderi |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. piaggiae |2=G. tanganjicae |label2= |2={{clade |label1=African |1=G. guttata |label2=Asian |2={{clade |1=G. spiloptera |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. citrina |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. cinerea |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. erythronota |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. schistacea |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. peronii |label2= |2={{clade |1=G. dohertyi |2=G. interpres

Although rare, they are locally and seasonally seen regularly at certain locations in winter such as at Victoria Park in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, where a number of birds gather by the stream early in the morning or in some hills stations in southern India such as Nandi Hills and Yercaud.

Behaviour and ecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/JerdonZootheraWardii.jpg" caption="omnivorous]], but eat more [[insect]]s than fruit. They form loose flocks in winter."] ::

The breeding season is May to July and the nest is a deep cup lined with grass and cemented with mud and placed in a low tree fork. The clutch consists of 3–4 white or bluish eggs. This uncommon species breeds in the Himalayas between 1500 and in thick woodland. The wintering areas are similar but include less well-wooded areas, and are generally at 750 to altitude.

Their song is not considered as musical as those of many others thrushes and consists of a series of squeaky notes followed by short trills.

References

References

  1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Geokichla wardii''".
  2. Blyth, Edward. (1842). [" Report of the Curator [for September]". J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal.
  3. (2006). "Systematic notes on Asian birds. 51. Dates of avian names introduced in early volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal". [[Zoologische Mededelingen]].
  4. Oates, E W. (1890). "Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 2". Taylor and Francis.
  5. Jobling, James A. (1991). "A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Oxford University Press.
  6. Darwin, Charles. (1886). "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication. Volume 1". Orange Judd & Co..
  7. Forbes, Gordon S. (1885). "The Wildlife of Canara and Ganjam". Swan Sonnenschein & Co..
  8. Jerdon, TC. (1862). "Birds of India. Volume 1.". Military Orphans Press.
  9. Wolters, H.E.. (1971). "Probleme der Gattungsabgrenzung in der Ornithologie". Bonn. Zool. Beitr..
  10. (2008). "Establishing a perimeter position: speciation around the Indian Ocean Basin". Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
  11. (2005). "Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Vol. 2". Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions.
  12. Balasubramanian, P.. (1990). "Indian House Crow ''Corvus splendens'' preying upon Pied Ground Thrush ''Zoothera wardii'' at Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
  13. Karthikeyan, S. (1992). "Pied Ground Thrush ''Zoothera wardii'' (Blyth) in Bangalore". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
  14. Karthikeyan, S. (1994). "Some notes on Pied Ground Thrush ''Zoothera wardii'' (Blyth)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
  15. Jackson, M.C.A.. (1972). "Pied Ground Thrush ''Zoothera wardii'' (Blyth) in Kerala State". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
  16. (1995). "Wintering of Indian Blue Chat ''Erithacus brunneus'' (Hodgson) and Pied Ground Thrush ''Zoothera wardii'' (Blyth) at Nandi Hills, South India". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc..
  17. Elliot, W.. (1873). "Memoir of Dr T. C. Jerdon". Hist. Berwickshire Nat. Cl..

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