Chuck-will's-widow vs Clay-colored Thrush

Antrostomus carolinensis compared with Turdus grayi

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Chuck-will's-widow	Clay-colored Thrush
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Caprimulgiformes (Caprimulgiformes)	Passeriformes (Songbirds)
Family	Caprimulgidae	Turdidae
Genus	Antrostomus	Turdus
Species	Antrostomus carolinensis	Turdus grayi

Evolutionary Relationship

Chuck-will's-widow and Clay-colored Thrush share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Chuck-will's-widow

LC — Least Concern

Clay-colored Thrush

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Chuck-will's-widow	Clay-colored Thrush
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Chuck-will's-widow

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Norway, and Venezuela.

Clay-colored Thrush

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia and Norway.

Chuck-will's-widow

The Chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) is the largest nightjar in North America, named for its distinctive far-carrying call — a resonant four-syllable whistle repeated persistently on warm nights. It breeds across the southeastern United States, from the Atlantic coastal plain through the Gulf states and up the Mississippi Valley to southern Indiana and Kansas. The species migrates southward in autumn to winter quarters in the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. Like all nightjars, it is a crepuscular and nocturnal insectivore, capturing large moths, beetles, and other flying insects in flight using its enormous, bristle-fringed gape. By day, the Chuck-will's-widow roosts on the ground or along horizontal branches, relying on cryptic mottled plumage for concealment. It nests directly on the leaf litter of open woodland and scrub, typically in pine-oak forests, dry forests, and woodland edges. The IUCN classifies this species as Least Concern, though Breeding Bird Survey data suggest moderate long-term population declines linked to forest fragmentation and light pollution that disrupts insect prey availability. Conservation of large-scale woodland tracts in the southeastern United States benefits this species and its associated nightjar community.

Clay-colored Thrush

The Clay-colored Thrush, Turdus grayi, is a medium-sized songbird in the family Turdidae that ranges from eastern Mexico through Central America to northwestern Colombia. It is the national bird of Costa Rica, where it is common in gardens, parks, forest edges, plantations, and humid lowland and foothill forests from sea level to moderate elevations. The species is characterized by its uniformly clay-brown to olive-brown plumage, pale grayish-white underparts with faint streaking on the throat, yellowish-green bill, and yellow eye-ring. Formerly known as the Clay-colored Robin, it is closely related to the American Robin and shares the typical thrush body plan of a stout, medium-sized body with powerful legs for ground foraging. The Clay-colored Thrush is omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of fruits, berries, earthworms, insects, and small lizards. Its melodious, flute-like song is considered one of the most beautiful in tropical America and is delivered throughout the year, intensifying before the rainy season in Central America. The species adapts well to human-modified landscapes including gardens and agricultural areas with scattered trees. It is assessed as Least Concern by IUCN with a large and stable population.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway