Karoo thrush

Last updated

Karoo thrush
Turdus smithi (Karoo Thrush) on lawn (crop).jpg
Adult
Song
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Turdus
Species:
T. smithi
Binomial name
Turdus smithi
Bonaparte, 1850

The Karoo thrush (Turdus smithi), also known as Smith's thrush, is a member of the thrush family in Africa. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the olive thrush (with which it is known to hybridize), but is increasingly treated as a separate species. The specific name honours the Scottish military surgeon and zoologist Sir Andrew Smith. [2]

Contents

Description

This medium-sized bird has a length of about 24 cm. It has a wing length between 117 and 131 mm, a culmen length between 20 and 24 mm and a tarsus length between 30.0 and 34.5 mm. It can reach a mass of at least 86 g. It differs from the olive thrush by its longer, entirely yellow bill, its longer wings, and its greyer flanks.

Range

It occurs in South Africa, where it is present in Little Namaqualand, the Karoo and Northern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and parts of the North West Province.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common blackbird</span> Thrush native to Europe, Asia and North Africa

The common blackbird is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird, or simply the blackbird where this does not lead to confusion with a similar-looking local species. It breeds in Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few former Asian subspecies are now widely treated as separate species. Depending on latitude, the common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory, or fully migratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African thrush</span> Species of bird

The African thrush or West African thrush is a passerine bird in the thrush family Turdidae. It is common in well-wooded areas over much of the western part of sub-Saharan Africa, it was once considered to be conspecific with the olive thrush but that species has now been split further. Populations are resident (non-migratory).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redwing</span> Species of bird

The redwing is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Smith (zoologist)</span> British surgeon and zoologist (1797–1872)

Sir Andrew Smith was a British surgeon, explorer, ethnologist and zoologist. He is considered the father of zoology in South Africa having described many species across a wide range of groups in his major work, Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectacled thrush</span> Species of bird

The spectacled thrush, bare-eyed thrush, or yellow-eyed thrush, is a resident breeding bird in the Lesser Antilles and in South America from Colombia and Venezuela south and east to northern Brazil. In Trinidad and Tobago, this thrush is also known as big-eye grieve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-necked thrush</span> Species of bird

The white-necked thrush is a songbird found in forest and woodland in South America. The taxonomy is potentially confusing, and it sometimes includes the members of the T. assimilis group as subspecies, in which case the "combined species" is referred to as the white-throated thrush. On the contrary, it may be split into two species, the rufous-flanked thrush and the grey-flanked thrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tankwa Karoo National Park</span> Conservation area west of Sutherland in the Western and Northern Cape

Tankwa Karoo National Park is a national park in South Africa. The park lies about 70 km due west of Sutherland near the border of the Northern Cape and Western Cape, in one of the most arid regions of South Africa, with areas receiving less than 100 mm of average annual precipitation, moisture-bearing clouds from the Atlantic Ocean being largely stopped by the Cederberg mountains. Other low areas receive little more, as the Roodewerf station with 180 mm of mean annual rainfall. In the hottest areas of the park, the mean maximum temperature in January is 38.9 °C, and in July the mean minimum temperature ranges from about 5 to 7 °C. Before this Park's proclamation, the only protected area of Succulent Karoo was the 2 square kilometre patch of the Gamkaberg Nature Reserve. Succulent Karoo has, together with the Cape Floral Kingdom, been declared a Biodiversity Hotspot by Conservation International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain thrush</span> Species of bird

The mountain thrush is a large thrush which is found in Central America. It was formerly known as the mountain robin. Some authorities refer to it as the American mountain thrush to differentiate it from the Abyssinian thrush, known in their taxonomy as the African mountain thrush.

The Taita thrush, also known as the Taita olive thrush or Heller's ground thrush, is an endangered bird from the family of thrushes (Turdidae), endemic to the Taita Hills in Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olive thrush</span> Species of bird

The olive thrush is, in its range, one of the most common members of the thrush family (Turdidae). It occurs in African highlands from southern Malawi and Mozambique in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south. It is a bird of forest and woodland, but has locally adapted to parks and large gardens in suburban areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape robin-chat</span> Species of bird

The Cape robin-chat is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a disjunct range from South Sudan to South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The ground woodpecker is one of only three ground-dwelling woodpeckers in the world. It inhabits rather barren, steep, boulder-strewn slopes in relatively cool hilly and mountainous areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini and has yet to be recorded outside of Southern Africa. It is found in a broad swath running from southwest to northeast, from the Cape Peninsula and Namaqualand to Mpumalanga. It is closely related to the woodpeckers of the genus Campethera, some of which also employ terrestrial foraging strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groundscraper thrush</span> Species of bird (Psophocichla litsitsirupa)

The groundscraper thrush is a passerine bird of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the thrush family, Turdidae. It was previously considered the only member of the genus Psophocichla, but phylogenetic analysis supports it belonging in the genus Turdus, of which it is the most basal species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pale thrush</span> Species of bird

The pale thrush is a passerine bird of the eastern Palearctic belonging to the genus Turdus in the thrush family Turdidae. It is closely related to the eye-browed thrush and grey-backed thrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese thrush</span> Species of bird

The Japanese thrush is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. The species is also known as the grey thrush or the Japanese grey thrush. The species was once split into two subspecies, with birds breeding in China being treated as the subspecies T. c. lateus,, but today differences are attributed to natural variation and the species is treated as being monotypic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurrichane thrush</span> Species of bird

The Kurrichane thrush is a species of bird in the thrush family Turdidae. The species is found from central through to southern Africa. Its natural habitat is dry savanna and woodland, predominantly miombo woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange ground thrush</span> Species of bird

The orange ground thrush is a species of bird in the family Turdidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abyssinian thrush</span> Species of bird

The Abyssinian thrush is a passerine bird in the family Turdidae. It is also known as the African mountain thrush, or northern olive thrush The species was formerly treated as conspecific with the olive thrush but the species were split based on the genetic differences. The ranges do not overlap. The Abyssinian thrush is found in Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa, as well as an area to the southeast extending from the African Great Lakes region to north eastern Zambia and Malawi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usambara thrush</span> Species of bird

The Usambara thrush, also known as Roehl's thrush or Usambara olive thrush, is a species of thrush found in eastern Africa. Formerly, it was considered as a subspecies of the olive thrush, with which it is known to hybridize with, but is now recognised as a separate species.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2017). "Turdus smithi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T22734108A119723093. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22734108A119723093.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. James A. Jobling (2010). The Helm dictionary of scientific bird names from aalge to zusii. Christopher Helm, London. p. 358. ISBN   9781408125014.