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Birds of Zihuatanejo

CLASS AVES

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Chordates (Phylum Chordata)

-Vertebrates (Subphylum Vertebrata)

-Birds (Class Aves)

-Perching Birds (Order Passeriformes)

-Thrushes (Family Turdidae)

-Brown Thrushes and Nightingale-Thrushes (Genus Catharus)

-Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)


Does much foraging on ground, picking up insects from leaf-litter or soil; also feeds up in shrubs and trees, often hovering momentarily while grabbing an insect or berry. Diet consists of mostly insects and berries. Feeds on a variety of insects, including beetles, ants, caterpillars, true bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, and many others; also spiders, earthworms, rarely small salamanders. Also eats many berries, especially in winter; diet includes elderberries, pokeberries, serviceberries, grapes, mistletoe berries, and many others.

Hermit Thrush

Catharus guttatus

Diet

  • Primarily insects and other invertebrates, including beetles, ants, caterpillars, flies, spiders, and earthworms.

  • Also feeds extensively on berries, small fruits, and other wild fruits during autumn and winter.

  • Forages mainly on the ground by hopping through leaf litter or gleaning insects from low vegetation.

Range

  • Breeds across Alaska, Canada, and much of the northern and western United States.

  • Winters throughout the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Caribbean.

  • A common winter visitor to Mexico, including the Zihuatanejo region, where it inhabits tropical dry forests, woodland edges, shaded ravines, riparian forests, gardens, and shrubby habitats.

  • Prefers dense understory vegetation during the non-breeding season.

Male / Female

  • Male: Brown upperparts with a distinctive rufous tail, whitish underparts marked with dark spots on the throat and breast, and a pale eye ring. Slightly larger than the female.

  • Female: Very similar in appearance but generally a little smaller and duller.

  • Sexes cannot be reliably distinguished in the field except by subtle size differences or breeding behaviour.

Size

  • Length: 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in)

  • Wingspan: 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in)

  • Weight: 18–37 g

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