
Photo: Charles Lam · CC BY-SA 2.0
Turdus hortulorum
Rare visitor: recorded only occasionally in this country
The grey-backed thrush (Turdus hortulorum) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It breeds in northeastern China and the Russian Far East and winters in southern China and northern Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. A captive bred pair laid five eggs, which hatched 14 days after the first egg was laid. The young left the nest 12 days later. (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description The grey-backed thrush is a medium-sized Passerine. It is a sexually-dimorphic species, with males having a slate grey back and chest and white chin and belly, with rufous flanks. Females have grey or brown backs, with dark spots on the chest and similar plumage to males on the belly and flanks. These birds are 20-23 cm long, and weigh a mean 66.