Dark-sided Thrush

The dark-sided thrush, also known as the lesser brown thrush, long-billed ground thrush or dark-sided ground thrush, is a thrush 24–25 cm long and about 80 g. It is monotypic and closely related to other Zoothera thrushes, including the long-billed thrush and the widespread scaly thrush, with a particularly long blackish bill and plumage of a contrasting dark brown head with rufous-brown wings. It has a discontinuous distribution in the eastern Himalaya and then a population in the higher areas of Burma, northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the extreme south of China (Wikipedia, general species account).

It ranges from 750 to 2,100 m in broadleaf forests, particularly in damp areas and around rocky streams, also in areas of reed and bamboo in these forests. The call is a series of monotone thin whistles. It is generally non-migratory but will move down from higher altitudes in winter, and has turned up as a vagrant in Bangladesh. SoIB 2023 treats it as a Himalayan endemic and rates it a Moderate conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 12,300 km² and insufficient data on trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).