The Chiguanco thrush (Turdus chiguanco) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found from Ecuador south to Argentina.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Chiguanco thrush was originally described with its current binomial Turdus chiguanco.
The species' further taxonomy is unsettled. The IOC, AviList, the Clements taxonomy, and the independent South American Classification Committee assign it these three subspecies:
T. c. chiguanco d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837
T. c. conradi Salvadori & Festa, 1899
T. c. anthracinus Burmeister, 1858
However, as of late 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats T. c. anthracinus as a separate species, the "sombre thrush". Clements does recognize some distinctions within the species by calling the first two subspecies the "Chiguanco Thrush (chiguanco/conradi)" and the third the "Chiguanco Thrush (anthracinus)". In addition, some authors have included T. c. conradi within T. c. chiguanco.
This article follows the three-subspecies model.
Description
The Chiguanco thrush is 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 12 in) long and weighs 75 to 120 g (2.6 to 4.2 oz). Adults of both sexes of the nominate subspecies T. c. chiguanco have a plain olive gray-brown head and upperparts, wings, and tail. Their underparts are slightly paler. They have a red to chestnut iris, a yellow bill, and yellow legs and feet. Juveniles are dull grayish olive with browner wings and tail than adults. They have pale spots on the wing coverts, pale buff streaks on the back, and buff to brown spots and streaks on the underparts.
Subspecies T. c. conradi is larger and paler than the nominate but "not separable in the field". Adult males of T. c. anthracinus are almost entirely sooty black with a slightly paler throat and underparts. They have a yellow eye-ring and orange-yellow bill, legs, and feet. Adult females are overall dark brown or grayish brown with little difference between the upper- and underparts. Their...
