Turdus

Turdus is a genus of medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name Turdus is Latin for 'thrush'. Most of the species are called thrushes; the term thrush is also used for many other birds in the family Turdidae, as well as for a few species belonging to other families. Some Old World species with fully or largely black plumage are called blackbirds, and one, the ring ouzel, still retains the Old English name ouzel, which, until the 17th century, was also used (as "black ouzel") for the common blackbird; it is cognate with the German name Amsel for the same species. Some New World species are called robins, the best known of which is the American robin. Two other species have their own distinct names without "thrush", fieldfare and redwing, derived from behavioural characteristics and plumage features, respectively. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Several species have colonised oceanic islands, and two European species have been introduced by man into Australia and New Zealand. All the species are uniform in size and structure, with the great majority between 22–28 cm long; the smallest (Vanikoro island thrush) being 17–19 cm, and the largest (great thrush) being 28–33 cm. All have slender, medium-length bills. Plumage is far more variable; the only fully shared character is that the recently fledged juveniles are spotted on the breast and streaked on the back. Adult colours range from the "classical" thrush pattern of a plain brown back and a spotted breast (e.g. mistle thrush, song thrush), through all-brown (e.g. clay-colored thrush, black-billed thrush) or all-black (e.g. common blackbird, glossy-black thrush), pied (e.g. ring ouzel, white-collared blackbird), to orange- to red-breasted, either subtly (e.g. rufous-bellied thrush, grey-backed thrush) or boldly...