Wood Thrush

Hylocichla mustelina

Turdidae

Wood Thrush by tombenson76 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 — Easily observed on sunlit golf course during migration

Wood Thrush i Green-Wood Cemetery by Rhododendrites is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Not so visible in deeply shaded forest during breeding season

Wood Thrush by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Back entirely cinnamon brown

Wood Thrush, with rove beetle by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Bold dark spots on breast

Wood Thrush singing by Michael Schraam/USFWS, Northeast Region is available thorugh Publiuc Domain. — More often heard than seen

Wood Thrush at nest, Sugar Hill NH; Courtesy of Susan Pike, Seacoastonline.com — Female chooses site and builds nest

Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina by Mark Peck Bird Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 — Usual clutch of 4 parasitized by 2 cowbird eggs

Brood Parasitism by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — When present, cowbird nestling always fed more often

Wood Thrush, PA by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Male does more than share of feeding duties

Wood Thrush and Cowbird Nestling. by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Female often squeezes in second brood

Wood Thrush, juv. by Kelly Colgan Azar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 — Juvenile with clear eyering like parents

Wood Thrush searching for berries, South Meadows Trail, East Hartford, CT USA by by Paul Danese is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Fruits like mulberry consumed after breeding season

Hylocichla mustelina - Sarapiqui Region, Costa Rica, 04/02/2020 by Charlie Jackson is licensed under CC BY 2.0 — Winters in Central America

Although the Wood Thrush is a common forest resident elsewhere in Rhode Island, it has only been reported twice at Salter Grove on the basis of data available from 2002 until July 2025.

Four other thrushes have been documented for the park. Three migrate through the park in similarly small numbers, the Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, and the Veery. In contrast, the fourth thrush, the American Robin, breeds in the park.

The woodland at Salter Grove is too open and sparse for the Wood Thrush, which prefers to nest in the interior of mature deciduous or mixed forests. It breeds in the temperate region of the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada and winters in the lowland portions of Central America. Its haunting song is a varying series of "ee-oh-weeoh-ee" notes with a flute-like quality.

Although still relatively common, data from 1966 to 2012 suggest that Wood Thrush populations are declining across its range due to forest fragmentation on both the breeding and wintering grounds. Birds breeding close to forest edges are more easily discovered by the Brown-headed Cowbird, a brood parasite that deposits its eggs into the nest of other birds. The unwilling foster parents often end up fledging cowbird young rather than their own offspring.

Another cause in the population decline of the Wood Thrush is the negative impact of acid rain on the snails it consumes. Even when its usual inertebrate prey and fruit supplies are sufficiently abundant, a minimum level of calcium is required for producing egg shells. The higher levels of acid rain in recent years have reduced the availability of snails that would provide this source of calcium.

It was considered a common summer resident in the wooded parts of Rhode Island in the late 1800's. Early birdwatchers noted a gradual northward expansion in the breeding range of the Wood Thrush from the early to the mid 1900's. The warming climate is expected to continue this trend.

For more information:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-thrush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_thrush
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hylocichla_mustelina/
https://www.birdsbybent.com/////ch91-100/woodthrush.html
Clarkson, C. E., Osenkowski, J. E., Steen, V. A., Duhaime, R. J., and Paton, W.C. (2023) The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Rhode Island. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish and Wildlife. pp. 310-311.
Howe, Jr., R.H. and Sturtevant, E. (1899) The Birds of Rhode Island. pp. 16, 86.