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Wood Thrush

Latin:  Hylocichla mustelina/ French: Grive des bois/ Lenape: 
Cheesequake State Park, Monmouth County, NJ, Green Trail alongside campground, 5/9/04 (689kb) with female.  Three Wood Thrush sounds are featured on this clip.  The soft sounding, introductory, tremulous "ka-ka-ka-ka" are from the female.  The loud rattle, "whitchi-ti-tit"is the male and is often heard intermittently during hot afternoons unaccompanied by the melodious song .  The male starts to sing from a perch 30 feet away as the female continues to repeat her tremulous clucking.   Other birds in the background are the Red-eyed Vireo at the beginning and the Blue Jay "styer" toward the end.  This bird requires at least 2 to 3 acres of continuous, undisturbed deciduous woodland with a rather dense canopy and prefers moist areas near streams.      wave805
Rattlesnake Trail, near Catfish Pond, Delaware Water Gap 7/11/99 (341kb)

wave 146
 

 
Kittatiny Ridge near Mt. Mohican, Delaware Water Gap, 6/26/99, loud rattle sound (33kb)   wave570
 

Index

The Wood Thrush is in serious decline due to acid rain.  

Description:  Hickory brown (cinnamon) on head, back, tail and wings.  White breast, heavily spotted like an immature Robin, another member of the Thrush family.  The spots are not always as prominent as the photos and drawings in field guides.  Nor does the color always appear as dark rusty brown.  Color impression can be deceptive due to variations in lighting.  I have seen both the Wood Thrush and Hermit Thrush drop their wing tips below the tail level in a very erect posture, not just the Hermit Thrush that is more typically known for this habit.   To me the Wood Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Veery look almost indistinguishable, except for the Veery being the least spotted.  However, the beautiful songs of each of the similar looking Thrushes is remarkably different and is diagnostic.   

Habitat:  In mountainous areas, Wood Thrush may be heard at lower elevations along heavily wooded streambeds, while Hermit Thrush and Swainson's Thrush will more likely be heard at higher elevations (3,000')  along mountain trails following active brooks.  In the winter Hermit Thrush migrate to lower elevations including New Jersey.   Wood Thrush migrate south.  Swainson's Thrush migrate through New Jersey in spring and may even sing along the way but do not typically nest here. 

Comments on the voice of the Wood Thrush:

Aretas A Saunders:  "The song of the Wood Thrush, as heard from a little distance, consists of a series of rich, flute-like phrases of three to five notes each, the notes connected by liquid l-like sounds.  Each phrase is different from the last one, and the pauses between them are rather long.  When we are nearer the bird, we find that each phrase is either introduced, terminated, or both by other notes which are neither so loud nor so musical in quality.  The introductory portions, likely to sound like "tuck-tuck," are lower in pitch, while the terminations, sibilant or fricative sounds, like "se-se-se-se," are higher. "

Sibley describes the "clucks" as "popopo", the loud rattle as "pit, pit, pit".

Peterson describes the loud rattle as "pip, pip, pip, pip".  

See also, "Wood Thrush" from "Bent's: Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds", http://home.bluemarble.net/~pqn/ch91-100/woodthrush.html