Zoothera aurea
Silhouette: Francesco "Architetto" Rollandin · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
White's thrush (Zoothera aurea) is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. It was named after the English naturalist Gilbert White. The genus name Zoothera comes from the Ancient Greek zoon, "animal" and theras, "hunter". The specific aurea is from Latin aureus, "golden".
It breeds in wet coniferous taiga, mainly in the eastern Palearctic in Siberia to Manchuria, Korea and Japan. Northern races are strongly migratory, with most birds moving to southeastern Asia during the winter. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
The sexes are similar, 27–31 cm long, with black scaling on a paler white or yellowish background. The most striking identification feature in flight is the black band on the white underwings, a feature shared with Siberian thrush. The male has a song which is a loud, far-carrying mechanical whistle, with 5–10 second pauses between each one second long phrase twee...tuuu....tuuu....tuuu.
It was previously considered a subspecies of the scaly thrush. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 4 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 5 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 6 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Qingdao | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Xiamen City | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Shanghai | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Nanjing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Suzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Busan | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 10 | Hangzhou | 🇨🇳 China |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Kheow Open Zoo | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White's Thrush sighting in Taroko National Park on a given day, based on 131 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 76th most-seen of the 147 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.
March and December–January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White's Thrush in Taroko National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to November, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White's Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 parks where we can rate White's Thrush sightings, Taroko National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cuc Phuong National Park (Vietnam, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White's Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Taroko National Park (131 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.
