Mountain Thrush

The mountain thrush is 23 to 25.5 cm (9.1 to 10 in) long; males weigh an average of about 81 g (2.9 oz) and females average about 92 g (3.2 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies T. p. plebejus have mostly olivaceous brown upperparts with a browner head and more olivaceous rump and uppertail coverts. Their throat is pale brown with faint sepia brown streaks. Their underparts are light brown that is lightest in the center of the belly. They have a dark brown iris, a blackish brown bill, and brown to dark brown legs and feet. Juveniles have cinnamon flecks on their olivaceous brown upperparts and cinnamon brown throat and underparts with darker mottling. Subspecies T. p. differens is larger than the nominate; it is much browner overall; its underparts tend to raw umber and its throat is unstreaked and the same color as the underparts. T. p. rafaelensis is smaller than the other two subspecies. Its plumage is intermediate between them, with medium brown upperparts, a slightly streaked throat, and underparts with no umber. T. p. differens and T. p. rafaelensis have brownish bills. A superficially similar relative of the mountain thrush shares parts of this species' range: The sooty thrush (T. nigrescens) is blacker with an orange bill, eye ring and legs.

The mountain thrush has a disjunct distribution. Subspecies T. p. differens is the northernmost. It is found from the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas well into the southern half of Guatemala. T. p. rafaelensis is found from extreme eastern Guatemala across much of Honduras into north-central Nicaragua and also in isolated locations in El Salvador. The nominate subspecies is found in Costa Rica's Cordillera de Guanacaste, Cordillera Central, and Cordillera de Talamanca. The last extends into far western Panama's Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro provinces. The mountain thrush inhabits the interior and edges of montane evergreen and pine-oak forests both primary and secondary in the subtropical and lower temperate zones. It favors forest heavy with mosses and epiphytes and also occurs in moss-laden trees in pastures and in gardens, and in the non-breeding season in open groves of fruit-bearing trees. Overall it ranges in elevation between 900 and 3,500 m (3,000 and 11,500 ft). In Guatemala and Honduras it is found between 1,300 and 3,200 m (4,300 and 10,500 ft) and in Costa Rica mostly above 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

The mountain thrush's diet has not been studied but is known to include insects, other invertebrates, seeds, and berries. In the breeding season it forages singly or in pairs and at other times can gather in small flocks. It forages at all levels of the forest from the ground to the canopy but is usually found from the mid-level up.