Nilgiri Thrush

The Nilgiri thrush is a member of the thrush family endemic to the Western Ghats. The account gives its sexes as similar and its length as 27–31 cm, with black scaling on a paler white or yellowish background, and the most striking identification feature in flight the black band on the white underwings, shared with the Siberian thrush; these details appear to be carried over from the scaly thrush account, and they should be checked against a species-specific source (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on insects and stays on the terrestrial lower canopy of the moist shola ecosystem, and the scaled pattern gives it camouflage in the terrestrial understorey. The male's song is described as a loud, far-carrying mechanical whistle with 5–10 second pauses between one-second phrases. SoIB 2023 treats it as a Western Ghats endemic and rates it a Moderate conservation priority, a resident and local migrant forest bird and omnivore with a Restricted range of about 12,600 km² and an inconclusive long-term trend of about −54% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).