Red-throated Thrush Turdus ruficollis 赤頸鶇
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
Nov. 2024, Peter Ho. First-winter male.
This bird is aged as a first-winter due to the moult contrast in the greater coverts. The presence of fairly extensive red on the throat indicates a male.
Nov. 2009, Eling Lee. First-winter female.
First-winter females are similar to adult females but have little or no red on chest, pale buffish supercilium, chin and throat with black streaks at sides, greyish chest with blackish to warm brown spots (warmer on the lower breast) (Clement and Hathaway 2000). This particularly dull bird can be aged by its pale-tipped greater coverts and tertials.
24-27 cm. The adult male is dull grey above with rufous chest, throat, front part of the face, sides of the neck and supercilium. The rest of the underparts are off white, slightly greyish on the flanks. The base of the tail is orange-brown but grey distally. On adult females the rufous areas are duller and paler, with dark streaking on the throat and greyish feathers on the chest. The flanks are greyish-white with sparse dull streaks. First-winter males are similar to adult females but show moult contrast in greater coverts (Shirihai and Svensson 2018).
VOCALISATIONS
Commonly heard is a double-note ‘hyiv-hyiv’.
The ‘chuk’ call is similar to its congeners but slightly higher in pitch.
OCCURRENCE
The only record is of a first-winter female on Po Toi on 19 November 2009 (Lee 2012).
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Breeds in southern Siberia and northern Mongolia west to northwest China and east as far as the Khentii Mtns; winters in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent east through southern Tibet (Collar 2020) to substantial areas of China largely north of the Yangtze as far north as southern Heilongjiang and as far east as the coast (Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend unknown.
Clement, P. and R. Hathway (2000). Thrushes. Christopher Helm, London.
Collar, N. (2020). Red-throated Thrush (Turdus ruficollis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.retthr1.01
Lee, E. (2012). Red-throated Thrush Turdus ruficollis on Po Toi. The first Hong Kong record. Hong Kong Bird Report 2009-10: 269-271.
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House.
Shirihai, H. and L. Svensson (2018). Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds Vol. 1. Passerines: Larks to Warblers. Helm, London.
