Clay-colored Thrush

About the Clay-colored Thrush

The Clay-colored Thrush is the Valley's robin - a plain, warm brown thrush the size and shape of an American Robin, with a buffy-brown breast, a greenish-yellow bill, and reddish eyes. It is the national bird of Costa Rica and until recently was called the Clay-colored Robin.

It behaves exactly like a robin, running across lawns and refuge trails, cocking its head, and tugging up earthworms, and it takes fruit from ornamental shrubs. The song, heard mostly in spring, is a rich, slow, robin-like caroling. Shy at first, it has become a confiding bird of shaded parks and neighborhoods in the Valley.

In Texas the Clay-colored Thrush is a year-round resident of the Rio Grande Valley, where it has increased steadily since the 1990s and now breeds regularly - a former rarity turned Valley regular, and another species that reaches the United States only in South Texas.