Africa Wild Bird Book

[Duke]

578. Spotted Ground-thrush Geokichla guttata, Zoothera guttata (Natallyster)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Turdidae



Description
19-23 cm.
Adult: Upper parts, incl forehead, crown and scapulars, rusty olive-brown. Moustachial area, lores and patch on ear coverts white. Malar stripe black; also near-vertical black line through eyes and another at rear margin of ear coverts. Tail olive-brown, outer pairs of rectrices with white patches, mainly on inner web, extending ca 25 mm from tip. Upper wings mostly brown. Tips of median and secondary upper wing coverts with white, drop-shaped spots forming two parallel bars on folded wing. Lesser coverts olive-brown, tips with buff spots. Underparts white, breast and flanks often tinged buff, with large, bold, black drop-shaped or fan-shaped spots, varying in density. Bill black to grey-black; base of lower mandible whitish, pale yellow or pinkish. Eyes dark brown, appearing black in field; eye ring white. Legs and feet pale pink.
Juvenile: As adult, but crown and mantle mottled and streaked buff or dull olive-brown. Underparts buff, with black flecks and spots.
Similar species: Smaller then the Grounscraper Thrush from which it is diffrentiated by its forest habitat as well as the white bars on the wings. Groundscraper Thrush is found in drier, more open habitat.

Distribution
It has highly isolated populations scattered across sub-Saharan Africa, in Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, DRC and southern Africa. Here it is rare, with an estimate population of only 400-800 pairs, scattered across the coast of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

Habitat
It only occurs in coastal dune forest, scarp or lowland forest and any adjacent thickets; within these habitats is most easily found in partially open areas with scattered saplings and a dense canopy.

Movements and migrations
Complex, with two separate populations migrating separately:
The first breeds in the Eastern Cape and migrates to the coastal forests of KwaZulu-Natal in the period from April-May, returning again around August-September to breed.
Another population breeds around northern KwaZulu-Natal (centered around Eshowe), moving eastwards around March-May for coastal forests, returning later in August, when earthworms populations increase.

Diet
It mainly eats earthworms, supplemented with other invertebrates such as snails. It does most of its foraging singly or in pairs on the forest floor, flicking over leaves in search of prey; it also occasionally joins mixed-species foraging flocks, alongside Terrestrial brownbuls and Green-backed camaropteras.

Breeding
The nest is a large, messy cup built of rootlets, lichen, small twigs and other plant fibres, neatly lined with small rootlets. It is typically placed in a thin sapling in the forest understorey, such as a Narrow-leaved violet bush (Rinorea angustifolia). Egg-laying season in the Dlinza forest, KwaZulu-Natal is from September-April, peaking from October-February. It lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 13-14 days. The chicks are brooded almost non-stop for the first 3-4 days, and are fed by both parents on a diet of mainly earthworms. They eventually leave the nest after about 13-15 days, at which point they flutter down to the ground, where they stay for the next 7-10 days while being fed by the adults.

Call
A clear flute-like song, phrases of four to five notes, accent always on the first syllable TCHEEooo- che-chichoo, TREEoo-tretrree.

Status
Fairly common, lacalised resident.
Endangered globally and locally, classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, as it has an estimated world population of less than 2500 individuals and decreasing. It is thought that fragmentation of coastal dune forest and predation of its eggs and chicks by monkeys and raptors has at least partially cause this situation.

Reference: Biodiversity Explorer

[Duke]

578. Spotted Ground-thrush Geokichla guttata, Zoothera guttata



Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Newman's Birds of Southern Africa
Biodiversity Explorer: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... uttata.htm
ARKive: http://www.arkive.org/spotted-ground-th ... a-guttata/
BirdForum: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spotted_Ground_Thrush

[Mel]

580. Groundscraper Thrush Psophocichla litsitsirupa (Gevlekte Lyster)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Turdidae



Description:
22-24 cm. A thrush with an upright stance and shortish tail. Brown-grey upperparts, bold black-and-white face markings, white underparts with bold streaks. In flight shows chestnut wings.
Similar species: Distinguished from Spotted Ground Thrush by the lack of white bars on its wing coverts and by the bolder, more contrasting black face markings.

Distribution
It has two separate populations in sub-Saharan Africa; one from Eritrea to Ethiopia and the other, larger population stretches from Tanzania and southern DRC through Angola and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is locally common across much of the northern half of the region,

Habitat
Prefers open woodland and savanna.

Diet
It mainly eats insects, plucking them from ground with short grass tufts, scratching and scraping in leaf litter. It occasionally forages aerially, often taking insects flushed by bushfires.

Breeding
The nest is a cup of which the composition varies from region to region; it most commonly builds a bowl of pliable stems, but it can also be built of grass, rootlets and weeds secured with spider web and lined with feathers, or of leaves lined with midribs of Acacia leaves. It is typically placed in a vertical or horizontal fork against the tree trunk, often near the nests of Fork-tailed Drongos, as it is thought that they take advantage of the Drongo's aggressive nest defence tactics. Egg-laying season is from August-March, peaking from September-November. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are bluish with lilac and red-brown spots and blotches. Eggs are incubated by both sexes for about 14-15 days. The chicks are cared for by both parents, leaving the nest after about 16 days. The fledglings usually remain dependent on their parents for 6 weeks after leaving, and they may even beg for food after their parents next brood has hatched. The parents are extremely dedicated in their defence of the young, sometimes attacking human intruders who come to close to the nest.

Call
A loud, clear and varied whistling phrase. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

[Mel]

580. Groundscraper Thrush Psophocichla litsitsirupa (Gevlekte Lyster)

© Michele Nel

© Tina
Kruger National Park, Crocodile Bridge

© Dewi

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

[Bushveld Jock]

576. Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyana (Rooibeklyster)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Turdidae

Kurrichane Thrush.jpg (43.9 KiB) Viewed 1773 times

Description
A woodland thrush with a white belly and rufous flanks.
Adult: Forehead, crown and nape olivaceous grey-brown; cheeks and ear coverts pale grey-brown, scaled buff. Supercilium buffy orange, indistinct. Back olivaceous grey-brown; rump pale olivaceous grey-brown, tinged ochre. Tail dark grey-brown, tinged rufous. Underwing coverts dull orange. Chin off-white; malar region heavily streaked dark brown, streaks extending below and behind cheeks. Throat pale orange-buff, unstreaked or lightly streaked brown. Upper breast pale smoky brown, grading to pale dull orange on sides of breast and flanks. Belly and vent white to cream. Bill bright orange. Eyes brown, eye ring orange. Legs and feet orange-yellow.
Similar species: Upperparts and breast are paler and greyer than Olive Thrush or Karoo Thrush. Bill is brighter orange than other thrushes. Orange Ground-Thrush has conspicuous white tips to upper wing coverts, forming 2 bars on closed wing.

Distribution
South-central Africa, from Tanzania and southern DRC through Angola, Zambia and Malawi to southern Africa, mainly found in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KZN, northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Habitat
Local nomad in woodland areas, bushveld, parks and gardens.

Diet
It eats a variety of insect and fruit, doing most of its foraging on the ground, scratching in leaf litter and pecking the soil in search of food.

Breeding
The nest is a bowl built solely by the female in about 1-2 days, consisting of a foundation of mud mixed with rootlets on which a cup of grass, twigs and leaves is built. The nest is usually built after rainfall and typically placed in the three-pronged fork of a branch near the tree trunk. Egg-laying season is from August-March, peaking from September-December. It lays 1-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 12-15 days. The chicks are brooded by the female, with both parents feeding their young on a diet of insects and worms. They eventually leave the nest after about 12-16 days, after which they still remain dependent on their parents for at least 2 more months.

Call
Loud tuneful whistled notes: tyeoo-weet-weeit. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

[Bushveld Jock]

576. Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyana


Juvenile

© Flutterby

© Flutterby
H4-1, Kruger National Park

© Toko
Kruger National Park, Tshokwane

© pooky


Juvenile

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

[Toko]

577. Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus (Olyflyster)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Turdidae

© PJL
Garden in PE

Description
24 cm. Sexes alike. Told by dark eyering, orange underparts, speckled throat and white vent. Wings and tail blackish brown.
The key identification features are:
The juvenile is streaked buffy above and spotted blackish below.
Similar Species: Kurrichane Thrush brighter orange eye-ring and bill; distinct black malar stripes; white centre of belly, paler upper-parts.
The Olive Thrush can be told from the Karoo Thrush by:
Distinct orange flanks.
A dark patch around the nostril region of the upper mandible.
A darker eye-ring than Karoo Thrush.
The dark throat streaking against a whiter background giving it a bolder streaked effect than the Karoo Thrush.

Distribution
Endemic to southern Africa, with the bulk of its distribution centered on South Africa's eastern and southern coast extending to Limpopo Province and Lesotho, with a smaller population in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands.



Habitat
This is predominantly a forest loving species that also occurs on forest margins, riverine thickets and wooded parks and gardens in the moister eastern regions, in fact it is the 8th most common bird in Cape Town. It also occupies alien Acacia thickets and commercial orchards.

Diet
It mainly eats earthworms supplemented with insects, other invertebrates and fallen fruit, doing most of its foraging on the ground, flicking through leaf litter in search of prey.

Breeding
The nest is built solely by the female in about 10 days, consisting of a large, moist bowl made of grass stems, twigs, earth, wet leaves and moss, lined with plant stems, fibres, tendrils and bracken. It is typically in the fork of a tree branch, especially in gardens, anywhere from 3-16 metres above ground. Egg-laying season is basically year-round, peaking from August-December. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14 days, occasionally leaving the nest for up to an hour to forage. The chicks are brooded mainly by the female for the first 2 days, and is also responsible for feeding them with food passed to her by the male for the first few days. Later both parents feed the young, who leave the nest at about 16 days old, when they can barely fly; they remain dependent on their parents for up to 2 months further.

Call
The call is a thin wheet from the ground.

Status
Common resident.

[Toko]

577. Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus


Western Cape © okie

© Michele Nel
Kirstenbosch, Cape Town


Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
BirdInfo:Olive/Karoo Thrush identification
Peter Clement, Ren Hathway: Thrushes

[Flutterby]

577.1 Karoo Thrush Turdus smithi (Geelbeklyster)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Turdidae

Karoo Thrush.jpg (32.2 KiB) Viewed 1763 times

Description
Length 24 cm. The Karoo Thrush is mostly grey-brown with the centre of belly light dull orange, and the sides of belly light greyish orange, merging to grey. The greyish throat has fine black streaking, The undertail coverts are brownish-grey and the tail is a similar colour to the rest of the bird. It has an orange eye-ring. The bill is quite stout, equal to or shorter than the head, slightly curved downwards; and yellow in colour. The feet and legs are yellow. Sexes are alike.
Juveniles have spotted, dark brown underparts.
Similar species: The Karoo Thrush can be told from the Olive Thrush by:
1. Grey Flanks. There is however considerable variation in the intensity of grey plumage on the flanks. All colour forms however show some degree of grey plumage on the flanks though this may blend with shades of orange or orange/yellow.
2. All-yellow upper mandible.
3. Paler eye-ring than the previous species but this is not a good feature in poor light.
4. Darker throat background plumage gives the effect of a less boldly streaked chin and throat.
5. The extent of orange plumage on the underparts is variable.
The Karoo Thrush could be confused with the slightly smaller Kurrichane Thrush but it has a yellowish bill and speckled throat.

Distribution
From southern Namibia to southeast Botswana and South Africa (over the western and central parts of South Africa).

Habitat
It generally prefers riverine vegetation, such as riparian woodland along the Orange River, but it is also common in suburban gardens, in fact it is in the top 8 most common birds in Johannesburg.

Diet
Its diet consists of insects, molluscs, and spiders. It forages on the ground, flicking and scratching through leaf litter.

Breeding
The nest is built solely by the female, consisting of an messy cup built mainly of moist, coarse grass with weed stems, leaves, bark strips and twigs, lined with fine material such as rootlets; if material is not already damp it is dipped in water. It is typically placed in a three-pronged fork of a tree branch. Egg-laying season is from October to February. The female lays 1-4 blue eggs, which are by the female for about 14 days. The chicks are brooded constantly for the first 2 days. They eventually leave the nest after about 16 days but can barely fly, so they only become fully independent about 2 months later.

Call
The alarm call is a thin tseep, usually uttered when the bird takes off. The song is a series of whistled phrases, with a proportion of trilled and fluty notes. Listen to Bird Call

Status
Endemic. Common resident.

[Flutterby]

577a Karoo Thrush Turdus smithi

© Flutterby

© steamtrainfan

© steamtrainfan

© Amoli

Links:
Sabap2
BirdInfo:Olive/Karoo Thrush identification