<trp-post-container data-trp-post-id='359801'>Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush

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En bref

  • Scientific Name: Catharus dryas
  • Spanish Name: Zorzalito gorjiamarillo
  • Family: Turdidae
  • Known Nicknames: Yellow-throated Thrush
  • Average Length: 16–18 cm / 6.3–7.1 in
  • Average Weight: 28–35 g / 1.0–1.2 oz
  • Envergure : N/A
  • Key Feature: Bright yellow throat contrasting with dark olive upperparts and grayish underparts
  • Primary Diet: Insectivore and Frugivore
  • Range: Southern Mexico through Central America to western Panama
  • Habitat: Humid montane and subtropical forests, often near streams
  • Social Structure: Solitary or in pairs during breeding; sometimes loosely associated with mixed-species flocks
  • Nesting/Breeding: Cup nest in a tree fork or shrub
  • Statut de conservation : Préoccupation mineure (LC)
  • Évolution démographique : Stable

The Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush (*Catharus dryas*) is a strikingly beautiful songbird of the Central and South American cloud forests, immediately distinguished by its vivid, saffron-yellow throat that starkly contrasts with its otherwise deep, slate-gray body and paler gray underparts. Its most unique characteristic is its ethereal, flute-like song—a series of clear, descending notes that echo through the misty understory, earning it the “nightingale” moniker. A special feature is its bright, fleshy orange eye-ring and legs, which add a dash of color to an otherwise subtle plumage. This elusive thrush is also notable for its skulking behavior, preferring to forage quietly on the forest floor for insects and berries, making its haunting voice often the only clue to its presence.

Faits amusants

Despite its name, the Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush is a master of ventriloquism; its ethereal, flute-like song can seem to come from a completely different direction, making it nearly impossible to locate in the dense cloud forest understory. It has a quirky habit of "anting"—rubbing ants on its feathers to use the formic acid as a natural insecticide and feather conditioner. Remarkably, it is one of the few thrushes known to engage in cooperative breeding, where older offspring from previous broods will sometimes stay behind to help their parents feed and protect the next clutch of chicks.

Habitats et répartition

This thrush inhabits humid montane and subtropical forests, primarily in cloud forests and mossy, epiphyte-laden woodlands, often near streams or ravines. It is found at elevations between 900 and 2,500 meters, favoring dense understory with thick leaf litter and tangled vegetation. Its geographical range is disjunct, spanning from southern Mexico (Chiapas) through Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, with a separate population in Costa Rica and western Panama.

Comportements & Reproduction

The Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush is generally solitary or found in loose pairs, with males defending small breeding territories through song rather than aggressive physical displays. Mating is monogamous for a given season, and courtship involves the male performing short, fluttering flights while singing to attract a female. The female builds a bulky, cup-shaped nest of moss and leaves, typically placed in a low tree fork or shrub, and incubates a clutch of two pale blue eggs with dark speckles for about 13–14 days. Both parents feed the nestlings, which fledge after roughly two weeks. A unique reproductive strategy is their tendency to nest near army ant swarms in some regions, capitalizing on the flushed insects as a reliable food source for chicks, though this also increases predation risk from snakes and raptors drawn to the same disturbance.

Alimentation

The Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush is primarily an insectivore and frugivore, foraging on the forest floor by flipping through leaf litter in search of beetles, ants, caterpillars, and other small invertebrates, especially during the breeding season when protein is crucial for chicks. A particularly interesting aspect of its diet is its opportunistic consumption of small land snails and millipedes, which provide calcium for eggshell production. In the non-breeding season, its diet shifts significantly to include a wide variety of berries and small fruits, such as those from melastomes and palms, often swallowing them whole and dispersing seeds throughout its cloud forest habitat.

Couleurs

The Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush has a warm olive-brown back and wings, with a bright, sunny yellow throat and upper breast that contrast sharply with a pale gray belly and undertail. Its face features a subtle grayish crown and a faint, broken white eye-ring, while the flanks show a soft olive wash. This bird lacks bold patterns or camouflage adaptations, relying instead on its drab upperparts to blend into forest understory, with the yellow throat serving as a vivid but localized signal.

Distribution Map

Places linked to this species. A sighting is never guaranteed.