Turdus cardis
Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Japanese thrush (Turdus cardis) is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. The species is also known as the grey thrush or the Japanese grey thrush. The species was once split into two subspecies, with birds breeding in China being treated as the subspecies T. c. lateus,, but today differences are attributed to natural variation and the species is treated as being monotypic.
The Japanese thrush is migratory. It breeds in central China and Japan, arriving in Japan by April or May; it winters in coastal southern China (including Hainan) and northern Laos and Vietnam leaving its breeding grounds around October. It occasionally turns up as a passage migrant in Taiwan, and has been vagrant in Thailand. The species is usually found in forests and woodlands, either deciduous or mixed deciduous and coniferous in its breeding habitat, but also secondary forest and even gardens and parks.
The Japanese thrush is a mid-sized thrush. The two sexes have different plumage (sexual dimorphism). The male has a black head, breast, back, wings and tail, and a white underside with black spots in the upper belly and flanks. The legs, bill and thin eye-ring are yellow. The female is brown above and has a white throat, breast and belly, washed with rusty orange on the flanks and black spots.
The Japanese thrush feeds on the ground, scratching through leaf-litter to find insects and earthworms. It will also take fruit. It lays 2-5 eggs in a nest made of twigs and moss, bound with mud and lined with hair and rootlets. The eggs are incubated for 12–13 days and the chick nestling period is 14 days. The species double broods (raising two broods a season), with the female laying a new clutch soon after the first brood fledges. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Changsha | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Wuhan | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Nanchang | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Zhuhai [Macau] | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Xiamen City | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Chongqing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Hanoi | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 9 | Gwangju | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 10 | Hefei | 🇨🇳 China |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Japanese Thrush sighting in Chongqing on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 50th most-seen of the 65 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Japanese Thrush in Chongqing on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, April, August and November, the lowest months. Those are among Chongqing's wettest months, with about 180 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in February. September has too few records to rate.
Between 4 and 7 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Japanese Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
7th of 25
Of the 25 cities where we can rate Japanese Thrush sightings, Chongqing ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Changsha (China, about 20%), Wuhan (China, about 20%) and Hong Kong (China, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Japanese Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Chongqing (8 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
