Chlidonias

Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus)

Moon Bay, Wuyuan (Jiangxi), January 2025
This is such a cool bird! I've been able to see this species in a few U.S. zoos during the last 30 years, but sadly they have not yet become established in American aviculture. This is a beautiful and surprisingly large thrush that seems to be fairly peaceful with other birds and tolerant of a range of temperatures. I believe that only the Bronx and Central Park zoos display this species currently in the U.S.
 
@Summer Tanager they are indeed much larger than one might expect them to be from photos. They aren't actually thrushes though, although they look like them. They belong to the Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers).
 
@Chlidonias Thank you for that addition! I had forgotten that they were part of the huge family Muscicapidae! Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the thrushes were considered to be a subfamily (Turdinae) within the Muscicapidae (which was an even larger family back then). I frequently forget that so many of the "thrush-like" birds such as the Common Nightingale, robin-chats, shamas, magpie-robins, and bush-chats are really old world flycatchers! Thank you for that reminder and taxonomy lesson!
 

Media information

Category
China - Wildlife
Added by
Chlidonias
Date added
View count
105
Comment count
3
Rating
5.00 star(s) 1 ratings

Image metadata

Device
Canon Canon EOS 1100D
ISO
2000
Flash
Off, did not fire
Filename
Blue Whistling Thrush.JPG
File size
1.1 MB
Date taken
Wed, 22 January 2025 3:42 PM
Dimensions
2352px x 1622px

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