Taita thrush

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Taita thrush
Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Thrushes (Turdidae)
Subfamily : Turdinae
Genre : Real thrushes ( Turdus )
Type : Taita thrush
Scientific name
Turdus helleri
( Mearns , 1913)

The Taita Thrush ( Turdus helleri ) is a rare species of songbird in the thrush family that is endemic to the Taita Hills in Kenya . It was named after the zoologist Edmund Heller (1875–1939), who had collected the type specimen of this species in 1911.

description

The Taita thrush was originally regarded as a subspecies of the Cape Thrush ( Turdus olivaceus ), but has been an independent species since 1985. It reaches a length of 20 to 22 cm and a weight of 53 to 89 g. The head, chest and top are colored dark. The underside is white and the flanks are tinted rusty brown. The eyes and beak are bright orange. A narrow eye ring runs around the iris. The legs are orange-yellow.

distribution

The Taita Thrush occurs exclusively in four independent small forest plots in the Taita Hills in Kenya. These are Mbololo with approx. 200 hectares, Ngangao with approx. 92 hectares, Chawia with approx. 50 hectares and Yale with 2 hectares.

Way of life

It is restricted to montane cloud forests, although the areas in which it occurs have been heavily deforested in the past. It avoids secondary forests , bush vegetation and cultivated areas. Despite extensive research, only a few migrations between the individual forest fragments have been identified. The Taita thrush prefers shady areas with dense undergrowth, with a thick layer of humus or areas with little or no plant cover. It is most common in the undisturbed forest of Mbololo, hidden in the thick undergrowth. 78% of the world's population live here. It is rarest in Chawia, where the canopy is light and the undergrowth is very bushy. Their diet consists mainly of fruits. She has a monogamous way of life and is earthbound. It rarely stays more than 2 m above the ground. The breeding season is between January and July. The clutch consists of one to three eggs.

Danger

The Taita thrush is one of the rarest and most endangered bird species in Kenya. The endemic forest had to give way to deforestation in large parts of the region. These cultivated areas were then mostly reforested with non-native timber. In addition, there is an unbalanced gender ratio in Chawia. There is one female for every ten males. The world population currently stands at 1350 specimens and threatens to decline rapidly due to the poor reproduction rate.

literature

  • Edgar Alexander Mearns: Descriptions of four new African thrushes of the genera Planesticus and Geocichla In: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections Vol. 61 Number 10, 1913. S. 1. (first scientific description as Planesticus helleri )
  • Nigel Collar: Family Turdidae (Thrushes). In: Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, David A. Christie (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Lynx edicions, 2005, ISBN 978-84-87334-72-6 , p. 658.

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