Zoothera citrina or Orange-headed Thrush

The Orange-headed Thrush is 205–235 millimeters (8.1–9.25 in) long and weighs 47–60 gram-mes (1.7–2.1 oz). The adult male of the nominate subspecies of this little thrush has a wholly orange head and underparts, uniformly gray upper-parts and wings, and white median and under tail coverts. it's a slate-colored bill and therefore the legs and feet have brown fronts and pink or yellowish rears.

 

The female resembles the male however has browner or a lot of olive upper-parts and warm brown wings, however some previous females are virtually the image of the male. The juvenile is uninteresting brown with buff streaks on its back, and a rufous tone to the top and face; it's gray wings. The bill is brownish horn, and therefore the legs and feet are brown.

This species' orange and gray plumage is extremely distinctive, and it's unlikely to be confused with the other species. variations between the subspecies, as described higher than, will be quite placing, like the robust head pattern on Z. c. cyanotus, however is also less obvious variations in plumage tone, or whether or not there's white on the folded wing. like different Zoothera thrushes, all sorts of this species shows a particular underwing pattern, with a robust white band.

Voice

Calls of the Orange-headed Thrush embody a soft chuk or tchuk, a screeching teer-teer-teer, and a skinny tsee or dzef given in flight. However, this bird is usually silent particularly in winter. The song could be a loud clear series of variably sweet lilting musical notes, recalling the standard of the Common Blackbird, however with the a lot of repetitive structure of the Song Thrush. It additionally includes imitations of different birds like bulbuls, babblers and customary Tailorbird. It sings from a perch during a leafy tree, largely early morning and late afternoon.

The Orange-headed Thrush could be a keep, secretive bird typically occurring alone or in pairs, however is relatively a lot of simply seen than several different Zoothera thrushes, and a number of other birds might congregate outside the breeding season at an honest food supply. it's a swift, silent flight, however when disturbed can typically sit motionless till the threat has passed.


Breeding

The nest, engineered by each sexes, could be a wide however shallow cup of twigs, bracken and rootlets lined with softer plant material like leaves, moss and conifer needles. it's made at a height of up to four.5 metres (15 ft) during a little tree or bush, with mango trees and occasional bushes being most well-liked. 3 or four, often 5, eggs are laid; they're cream or tinted with pale blue, gray or inexperienced, and have pale lilac blotches and reddish brown spots. they're incubated for 13–14 days to hatching, with another twelve days till the young birds leave the nest.

This species could be a host of the Pied Cuckoo, Clamator jacobinus, a brood parasite that lay one egg within the nest.[3] not like the Common Cuckoo, neither the hen nor the hatched chick evict the host's eggs, however the host’s young typically die as a result of they can not compete successfully with the cuckoo for food. The Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Clamator coromandus, and, terribly rarely, the Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus have additionally been claimed as parasites on this species.

 

Feeding

The Orange-headed Thrush feeds on the bottom in dense undergrowth or different thick cowl. it's most active at dawn and dusk, probing the leaf litter for insect and their larvae, spiders, different invertebrates and fruit. In Malaysia, wintering birds frequently prey on figs