Varied thrush
Ixoreus naevius
Bird
A thrush of dark, wet Pacific-Northwest conifer forest, patterned in slate and burnt orange with a black band across the breast. It spends most of its time on the forest floor, turning leaf litter for insects in summer and switching to fallen fruit and berries in winter. Its song is a single long buzzing note on one pitch, then a pause, then another on a different pitch, which carries through wet forest better than it has any right to.
Plants in the catalog
Shelter plants · 2
Breeds in the moist Douglas fir forest of the Pacific Northwest, nesting in the understory and feeding on the litter beneath it. The tie is to the forest the tree builds rather than to the tree itself.
HABITAT association, not a food relationship. The thrush forages on the floor of moist Pacific-Northwest conifer forest, and sword fern is the dominant understory it moves through; the fern gives cover, not food. It is recorded here as co-occurrence because the sources support that and nothing stronger.
Range
Breeds in moist coniferous forest from Alaska down the Pacific coast to northern California and inland to the northern Rockies, wintering south and downslope through the Pacific states. Some birds wander far east of the range in winter, which is how it turns up at feeders across the continent in irruption years.
Sources & citations
Cite this page
Use this citation for the Plotwright wildlife record. Use the source cards below to explore the references that informed its taxonomy, range, conservation, host plants, foraging, and habitat.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/varied-thrush
Sources used for this record
This record is compiled from the sources below.
Cornell Lab All About Birds: Varied Thrush
Species account for the wet conifer-forest habitat, ground foraging in leaf litter, the winter switch to fruit, and the single-pitch song.
GBIF: Ixoreus naevius
GBIF backbone key 2490926 is an exact accepted match for Ixoreus naevius in family Turdidae.
iNaturalist: Ixoreus naevius
iNaturalist taxon 145088 is the active species record with community observation range data.
Wikipedia: Varied thrush
Corroborating reference for the plumage differences between the sexes and for the winter fruit diet.