Wood Thrush (WOTH)

Hylocichla mustelina

Adult Wood Thrush © Fernando Burgalin Serqueria / Macaulay Library
Juvenile Wood Thrush © Andy Wilson / Macaulay Library

Range

Wood Thrush populations extend north into some areas of Canada and migrate as far south as Panama. In the United States, these thrushes breed throughout the eastern states and as far west as South Dakota.

Additional Maps

Identification

This species is a medium-sized thrush with a vertical posture. The crown and nape is cinnamon-brown, which fades to olive brown on the back, wings, and tail. The underpart is white with black spotting across the breast and sides. The eyes are rimmed with white, the legs are pinkish, and the beak is yellow at the base and dark brown at the mandible and tip. Males tend to have longer wings and tails, but this trait has significant overlap between sexes, making the species sexually dimorphic. The Wood Thrush has a musical and flute-like call, and can sometimes be heard singing two notes at once.

Listen to its song here.

Habitat

Within the breeding range, this species lives in the interior and edges of deciduous and mixed forests, especially those with well-developed and mesic (with a well-balanced supply of moisture) uplands. Their preferred sites have trees taller than 16 meters in areas with a high variety of deciduous species and moderate subcanopy and shrub density. The forest floor tends to be fairly open with moist soil, decaying leaf litter, and shade. This species typically places nests in the forks of trees or on horizontal branches 10 to 15 feet above the ground in the understory of deciduous trees.

Conservation Status 

  • Listed as Vulnerable by Alabama State Species of Greatest Conservation Need
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Arkansas State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 229)
  • Listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Delaware State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 1-43)
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Louisiana State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 24)
  • Listed as Moderately Vulnerable in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Michigan by the Climate Action Tool
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Massachusetts State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 153)
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Mississippi State Species of Greatest Conservation Need
  • Listed as Vulnerable by Missouri State Species of Greatest Conservation Need
  • Listed as Special Concern by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
  • Listed as Vulnerable by North Carolina State Species of Greatest Conservation Need (pg 49)
  • On the Conservation Concern: “D” Yellow Watch List by Partners in Flight
  • Listed as an Yellow-Alert Species by Road to Recovery

Threats to Conservation

This species is among the more prominent examples of population decline of forest songbirds. The most notable threats they face are forest loss and fragmentation, but their populations are also affected by the deterioration of overall forest health due to acid rain, deer overgrazing, and poor forest management practices. These threats are issues across both breeding and wintering grounds. On the breeding grounds, this species is vulnerable to Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism because, unlike most other species, the Wood Thrush tends to raise the Cowbird young as their own, putting their own offspring at a higher mortality risk. The habitat range of the Wood Thrush is also at risk because the species is highly vulnerable to warming climates.

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General Management Guides
Regional Management Guides
Northeast
Midwest & Central
Southeast
Resources
Works Cited