The veery (''Catharus fuscescens'') is a small North American thrush

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, a member of a group of closely related and similar species in the genus ''

Catharus The genus ''Catharus'' is an evolutionary clade of forest-dwelling passerine birds in the family Turdidae (thrushes), commonly known as nightingale-thrushes. The extant species are widely distributed across the Americas and are descended from a c ...

'', also including the

gray-cheeked thrush The grey-cheeked thrush (''Catharus minimus'') is a medium-sized thrush. This species is in length, and has the white-dark-white underwing pattern characteristic of ''Catharus'' thrushes. It is a member of a close-knit group of migrant species ...

(''C. minimus''),

Bicknell's thrush Bicknell's thrush (''Catharus bicknelli'') is a medium-sized thrush, at and . One of North America's rarest and most localized breeders, it inhabits coniferous mountain tops and disturbed habitats of the Northeast. While very similar in appeara ...

(''C. bicknelli''), Swainson's thrush (''C. ustulatus''), and

hermit thrush The hermit thrush (''Catharus guttatus'') is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of ''Catharus'', but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. The specific na ...

(''C. guttatus''). Alternate names for this species include Wilson's thrush (named so after Alexander Wilson) and tawny thrush. Up to six subspecies exist, which are grouped into the eastern veery (''C.'' ''fuscescens fuscescens''), the western veery or willow thrush (''C. fuscescens salicicolus)'', and the Newfoundland veery (''C. fuscescens fuliginosus).'' The specific name ''fuscescens'' is

New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

for "blackish", from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''fuscus'', "dark". The English name may imitate the call.

Description

This species measures in length. Its mass is , exceptionally up to . The wingspan averages . Each wing measures , the bill measures and the tarsus is . The veery shows the characteristic under-wing stripe of ''

'' thrushes. Adults are mainly light brown on the upperparts. The underparts are white; the breast is light tawny with faint brownish spots. Veeries have pink legs and a poorly defined eye ring. Birds in the eastern portions of the species' breeding range are more cinnamon on the upper parts; western birds are more olive-brown. In the east, the veery is distinguished easily by its coloration; distinguishing western veeries from other ''Catharus'' thrushes is more difficult. This bird has a breezy, downward-spiraling, flute-like song, often given from a low and concealed perch. The most common call is a harsh, descending ''vee-er'', which gave the bird its name. Other calls include a chuckle, a sharp and low "''wuck"'', and a slow ''wee-u''. Veeries have been shown to decrease the rate and duration of singing when exposed to

barred owl The barred owl (''Strix varia''), also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae, they belong to the genus '' Strix'', whic ...

playback, possibly to decrease the chance of predation.

Ecology and behavior

Breeding and wintering habitat

The breeding habitat is humid

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forest across southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the northern

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. Breeding habitat includes dense growth and dense understory close to a water source, such as a stream. These birds migrate to eastern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It has been found that winter range may include the entire Amazon basin, Mérida state in Venezuela, the headwaters of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

, and

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

, Brazil. Stopover regions during migration of several veeries from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

include the coast of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, the coasts of the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. They are very rare vagrants to

western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

Feeding

They forage on the forest floor, flipping leaves to uncover insects; they may fly up to catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and berries. Insects are a main food source during the breeding season, while fruit and berries may compose most of the diet during the late summer and fall.

Nesting

They make a cup nest on the ground or near the base of a shrub. The nest consists of three structural layers, including outer, inner, and nest lining layers. The outer layer consists of leaves and supporting branches, while the inner layer consists of material woven together. Nest lining consists of flexible material such as bark, roots, and seeds. The use of different parts of 27 plant species, including invasive/alien plants, has been documented. Nests contain three to five greenish-blue eggs that may or may not have brown spots. The eggs are incubated for 10 to 14 days by the female, while both parents feed nestlings. Young Veeries can leave the nest between 10 and 12 days after they hatch. This bird has been displaced in some parts of its range by the related wood thrush (''Hylocichla mustelina''). However, a case of interspecific parental care of a veery nest by a wood thrush has been documented in which a wood thrush provided more parental care to the veery nestlings than did the parents, possibly due to sexual solicitation by the female veery. Veeries are occasional hosts for the eggs of

brown-headed cowbird The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...

s (''Molothrus ater''). Veery males have been found to engage in behaviors similar to the polygynandrous

in that males may feed nestlings at more than one nest and there may be multiple male feeders at nests.

Threats

Threats to the veery include nest parasitism by

s, climate change, and alteration of Amazonian lowland forests. It is suggested that veeries are in decline, and breeding bird survey trend results indicate that veery populations declined across most of its range from 1966 to 2013. There have been concerns that the use of invasive/alien plant parts may decrease nesting success, but negative impacts have not been documented. Other potential threats include the loss of woodland habitat,

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks may be classified either as ...

s, and raptors.

Footnotes

References

*Winker, Kevin & Pruett, Christin L. (2006):
Seasonal migration, speciation, and morphological convergence in the avian genus ''Catharus'' (Turdidae).
''

Auk An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...

'' 123(4): 1052–1068. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123 052:SMSAMC.0.CO;2

External links

Veery - ''Catharus fuscescens''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Veery Species Account
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Veery - ''Catharus fuscescens'' - photo with audio clip
at eNature.com * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1047971 Catharus Birds of Canada Birds of North America Birds of Appalachia (United States) Birds of South America Birds described in 1817