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| Slate-colored solitaire | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Turdidae |
| Genus: | Myadestes |
| Species: | M. unicolor
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| Binomial name | |
| Myadestes unicolor PL Sclater, 1857
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The slate-colored solitaire (Myadestes unicolor) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae, the thrushes.[2] It is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.[1]
Taxonomy and systematics
[edit]The slate-colored solitaire was originally described in 1857 as Myadestes unicolor and has retained that binomial since then.[3][2] The slate-colored solitaire and the brown-backed solitaire (M. occidentalis) are sister species.[4]
The slate-colored solitaire's further taxonomy is not settled. The IOC, AviList, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World treat it as monospecific.[2][5][6] However, the Clements taxonomy assigns it two subspecies, the nominate M. u. unicolor (PL Sclater, 1857) and M. u. pallens (Miller & Griscom, 1925).[7]
This article treats the slate-colored solitaire as monotypic.
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Description
[edit]The brown-backed solitaire is 19 to 20.5 cm (7.5 to 8.1 in) long and weighs 30 to 44 g (1.1 to 1.6 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults are mostly slaty gray that is slightly lighter on their underparts than above. They have a broken white eye-ring, blacker primary coverts, black flight feathers with buff edges, and whitish gray outer tail feathers. They have a dark bill and yellowish legs and feet. Juveniles have a buffish "moustache". Their upperparts have black-edged buff spots and their underparts have whitish buff centers on the feathers that give a scaly appearance.[4][8]
Distribution and habitat
[edit]The brown-backed solitaire has a disjunct distribution in several mountainous areas. One population is found in Mexico from southern San Luis Potosi to central Oaxaca and another in Veracruz. A third is found from Chiapas south into central Guatemala. A fourth is in Belize and the last is from southern Guatemala south across extreme northern El Salvador and much of Honduras into north-central Nicaragua.[9][8] The species inhabits cloudforest and pine-oak and montane evergreen forests in the tropical and subtropical zones.[9][8] Sources differ on its elevational limits. Two sources state them as 800 to 2,500 m (2,600 to 8,200 ft)[1] and 900 to 1,500 m (3,000 to 4,900 ft)[9]. Two others place the species from near sea level to 2,700 m (8,900 ft).[4][8]
Behavior
[edit]Movement
[edit]The slate-colored solitaire is mostly a year-round resident of the highlands but in some areas individuals move downslope after the breeding season.[4][8]
Feeding
[edit]The slate-colored solitaire feeds on fruit and forages at all levels in the forest.[8] Further details of its diet and foraging behavior are not known.[4]
Breeding
[edit]The slate-colored solitaire's breeding season has not been defined but includes April in Oaxaca. It makes a nest of moss, placed on the ground typically on the slope of a ravine. The clutch is two to three eggs that are whitish with reddish brown markings. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.[4]
Vocalization
[edit]The slate-colored solitaire's "loud, distinctive voice" is a "ringing metallic phrase, repeated regularly with little variation".[8] It is described in much more detail as ethereal and haunting that "often starts hesitantly with a few poor notes, then breaks into [a] varied series of clear or quavering fluty whistles, carefully delivered but of great beauty, often including or ending with loose trill, e.g. weedu teee wheeoee du du whit whit whit… du-whip! Drrrreee teedle-o chup chup chup…".[4] Its calls include a "hard nasal rrank or rran" and a "buzzier zzrink".[4]
Role in culture
[edit]In Mexico the slate-colored solitaire plays a significant role in some Catholic rituals.[10]
Status
[edit]The IUCN has assessed the slate-colored solitaire as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered fairly common to common overall[4] and fairly common south of Mexico[8]. Populations in [eastern] Mexico have been reduced, and possibly extirpated, owing to capture for the cagebird trade.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d BirdLife International (2018). "Slate-colored Solitaire Myadestes unicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018 e.T22708608A132074213. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22708608A132074213.en. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
- ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Thrushes". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
- ^ Sclater, Philip Lutley (1856). "Catalogue of the Birds collected by M. Auguste Sallé in Southern Mexico, with Descriptions of New Species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. XXIV: 299–300. Retrieved January 26, 2026.Though the journal volume is dated 1856, the species description is credited to 1857.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collar, N. (2020). Slate-colored Solitaire (Myadestes unicolor) version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.slcsol1.01 retrieved January 26, 2026
- ^ AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025 retrieved June 11, 2025
- ^ HBW and BirdLife International (2025). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 10. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/about-our-science/taxonomy#birdlife-s-taxonomic-checklist retrieved October 12, 2025
- ^ Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2025. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2025. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 3, 2025
- ^ a b c d e f g h Fagan, Jesse; Komar, Oliver (2016). Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 322–323. ISBN 978-0-544-37326-6.
- ^ a b c Check-list of North American Birds (7th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. p. 501.
- ^ Roldán-Clarà, Blanca; Horta Hinojosa, Rosa Elvia (2022-12-13). "Fruits used in two rural communities of the Sierra Madre Oriental region, Mexico to feed captive Myadestes spp. birds for their acclimation". Ethnobiology and Conservation. 11. doi:10.15451/ec2022-12-11.29-1-16. ISSN 2238-4782.