Turdus plumbeus
Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The Western red-legged thrush (Turdus plumbeus) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. Native to the Caribbean, it is found in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and Cuba. It formerly occurred on the Swan Islands, Honduras, but was extirpated there.
The red-legged thrush was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Turdus plumbeus. Linnaeus based his account of the "red leg'd thrush" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "leaden", "plumbeous" or "lead-coloured". It was formerly considered conspecific with the eastern red-legged thrush but in 2025 the species was split in two by AviList and Clements checklist based on differences in plumage and genetics.
Four subspecies are recognised: Has beige-orange color on rear flanks and vent area. Bill is dark red with dusky tip.... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciénaga de Zapata | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 2 | Los Haitises National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 3 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 2 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 3 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-legged Thrush sighting in Jaragua National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 92 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Red-legged Thrush in Jaragua National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, the lowest month. June to September have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-legged Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Red-legged Thrush sightings, Jaragua National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Ciénaga de Zapata (Cuba, about 50%) and Los Haitises National Park (Dominican Republic, about 30%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Red-legged Thrush that you can see in Jaragua National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Stolid Flycatcher (about 40%), Black-crowned Palm-Tanager (about 30%) and Northern Mockingbird (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-legged Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Jaragua National Park (14 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
