Sooty Thrush Gallery

Turdus nigrescens

eBird describes the Sooty Thrush like this:  Very dark montane thrush. Robin-sized, all black with white eye and yellow eyering, bill, and legs. Female browner than male. No similar species in limited range. Found singly or in pairs at high elevations, usually above 2200m. Usually in the open, sometimes conspicuously hopping around on the ground but also at the forest edge.  Birds of the World provides this additional information:  The Sooty Thrush is endemic to the Costa Rica and Panama Highlands Endemic Bird Area, where it is generally rather common and the species inhabits open habitats at higher elevations, foraging mainly on bare ground for insects and small fruits, and sometimes feeding in small, loose groups. Males are principally blackish with a yellow bill and orange-yellow legs, with the most prominent feature being the whitish irides, whereas the body color in females tends to be more brownish, darkest on the wings and tail, with similarly colored bare parts. The Sooty Thrush is considered to be biologically very similar to the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).

I saw my first Sooty Thrush on the early afternoon of Friday, February 3, 2023, at Irazu Volcano, where I saw one sitting atop a bush near the main crater of the volcano.  Later, as Rigo and I were driving over to Guayabo National Monument (look here for my blog post for more details of that day) I saw a couple more beside the road.