Thrushes and Chats: Turdidae

Thrushes in general are omnivores eating a wide variety of both plants and animals. Their diet includes earthworms and larvae (LAR-vee), beetles or other insects, berries, and fruit. One species, the rock thrush, feeds entirely on animals. This family of birds tends to forage, search, on the ground or in bushes for their food. In winter they gather food together in large flocks. A typical thrush feeding habit is their movement across the ground in continuing short and bouncy hops, as they pause to listen and look for signs of worms under the surface. As they tilt their heads from side to side in determining this, once discovered, they then swing forward to pick up their prey with their bills.