Bird
Bird
Cocoa Thrush
Turdus fumigatus
The Cocoa Thrush is a warm, uniformly reddish-brown thrush of Trinidad's forest and shaded cocoa plantations, its name reflecting both its rich, cocoa-brown colouring and its close association with the shaded cocoa estates that cover parts of the island's interior.
The Cocoa Thrush is a warm, uniformly reddish-brown thrush of Trinidad's forest and shaded cocoa plantations, its name reflecting both its rich, cocoa-brown colouring and its close association with the shaded cocoa estates that cover parts of the island's interior.
Identification
A medium-sized thrush around 22 to 24 cm long, warm reddish-brown to cinnamon-brown overall, slightly paler on the underparts, with a plain, unmarked face lacking the bare eye-ring of the Bare-eyed Thrush. The bill and legs are yellowish. Its uniform, warm colouring and plain face are the most useful features separating it from the region's other thrushes.
Ecology
The Cocoa Thrush feeds on fruit, insects, and earthworms, foraging on the ground and in the understorey of forest and shaded plantation habitat, particularly traditional shade-grown cocoa and coffee estates that mimic natural forest structure. Its clear, rich, melodious song is a characteristic sound of Trinidad's forest interior and cocoa-growing districts, especially at dawn.
Status in T&T
Found in forest interior and shaded cocoa and coffee plantations across Trinidad, benefiting from the traditional shade-grown agriculture that preserves forest-like structure. It is not threatened. It is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and is not a game species.
Threats
- Conversion of shaded cocoa and coffee estates to sun cultivation or other land use
- Forest clearance
