Mountain Thrush

The mountain thrush resembles other Turdus thrushes in general appearance and habits. It is 23–26 cm (9.1–10.2 in) long and weighs 86 g (3.0 oz) on average. The adult is uniformly dull olive-brown with faint white streaks on the throat. The bill is black and the legs are dark brown. The juvenile resembles the adult, but has buff or orange streaks on the head and upperparts, and dark spotting on the underparts. Two superficially similar relatives share this species range: the sooty thrush is blacker with an orange bill, eye ring and legs, and the clay-colored thrush is much paler and yellow-billed. There are three poorly defined subspecies: T. p. plebejus — Cabanis, 1861 — nominate, found in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, described above T. p. differens — (Nelson, 1901) — found from the Pacific slope of Mexico to Caribbean Guatemala is more olive above, and more olive brown and less grey below T. p. rafaelensis — Miller, W & Griscom, 1925 — found in the highlands from Honduras to northwestern Nicaragua is intermediate between the northern and southern subspecies above, and is often merged with differens