Olive thrush | |
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Olive thrush adult, Greyton, South Africa | |
Song recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Turdidae |
Genus: | Turdus |
Species: | T. olivaceus |
Binomial name | |
Turdus olivaceus Linnaeus, 1766 | |
The olive thrush (Turdus olivaceus) 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. [2] It is a bird of forest and woodland, but has locally adapted to parks and large gardens in suburban areas.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the olive thrush in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name Le merle olive du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Merula Olivacea Capitis Bonae Spei. [3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. [4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. [4] One of these was the olive thrush. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Turdus olivaceus and cited Brisson's work. [5]
Six subspecies are recognised: [6]
The subspecies differ mainly in the relative amounts of white, orange and brown on the underparts. Several additional populations of African Turdus thrushes were previously included within this group, but are now most commonly treated as separate species in their own right including the Karoo thrush (Turdus smithi), the Somali thrush (Turdus ludoviciae) and the more northerly Abyssinian thrush, also known as the Northern olive thrush and Mountain thrush, T. abyssinicus, itself also sometimes considered as several separate species (Abyssinian thrush, T. abyssinicus, Usambara thrush, T. roehli and Taita thrush Turdus helleri). [2]
It can reach a length of 24 cm (9.4 in) and a weight of at least 101 g (3.6 oz). The tail and the upperparts are coloured dull olive brown. The belly is white and the rest of the underparts have an orange hue. The throat is speckled with white spots. It can be found in evergreen forests, parks, and gardens.
The male's song is a mix of fluted, whistled and trilled phrases, which varies geographically. It occasionally mimics other birds.
The female builds a cup nest, typically 2 to 9 m (6 ft 7 in to 29 ft 6 in) above the ground in a tree or hedge. The 1–3 (usually 2) eggs are incubated solely by the female for 14–15 days to hatching, and the chicks fledge in another 16 days.
Its diet consists of earthworms, insects, snails, fruits, and spiders.
The mosque swallow is a large swallow. It is a resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa, although most common in the west. It does not migrate but follows the rains to some extent.
The Senegal coucal is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the hoatzin. It is a medium-sized member of its genus and is found in lightly-wooded country and savannah in central and southern Africa.
The yellow-billed oxpecker is a passerine bird in the family Buphagidae. It was previously placed in the starling and myna family, Sturnidae.
The red-billed firefinch or Senegal firefinch is a small seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. This is a resident breeding bird in most of Sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2. It was introduced to Egypt, but the population there has become extinct. It was also introduced to southern Algeria where it is currently expanding northward.
The olive bee-eater or Madagascar bee-eater is a near passerine bee-eater species in the genus Merops. It is native to the southern half of Africa where it is present in Angola; Botswana; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mayotte; Mozambique; Namibia; Rwanda; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe. It is a common species with a wide range so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated their conservation status as "least concern".
The Cape longclaw or orange-throated longclaw is a passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which comprises the longclaws, pipits and wagtails. It occurs in Southern Africa in Zimbabwe and southern and eastern South Africa. This species is found in coastal and mountain grassland, often near water.
The shaft-tailed whydah or queen whydah is a small, sparrow-like bird in the genus Vidua. During the breeding season the male has black crown and upper body plumage, golden breast and four elongated black tail shaft feathers with expanded tips. After the breeding season is over, the male sheds its long tail and grows olive brown female-like plumage.
The yellow-faced grassquit is a passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae and is the only member of the genus Tiaris. It is native to the Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
The red fody, also known as the Madagascar fody in Madagascar, red cardinal fody in Mauritius, or common fody, is a small bird native to Madagascar and introduced to various other islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a common bird within its restricted range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The Cape bunting is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.
The Cape batis is a small, stout insect-eating passerine bird in the wattle-eye family. It is endemic to the Afromontane forests of southern Africa.
The violet-eared waxbill or common grenadier is a common species of estrildid finch found in drier land of Southern Africa.
The black-faced munia is a species of estrildid finch found in Indonesia and East Timor. It occurs in a wide range of habitats including artificial landscapes, forest, grassland and savannah. It was first described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1766. The IUCN has evaluated the status of this bird as being of least concern.
The Cape wagtail, also known as Wells's wagtail, is a small insectivorous bird which is widespread in southern Africa. It frequents water's edge, lawns and gardens. It is a mostly resident, territorial species, but has been known to undertake limited altitudinal migration or form flocks outside of the breeding season. Like other wagtails they are passerine birds of the family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws.
The Cape bulbul is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in coastal bush, open forest, gardens and fynbos in western and southern South Africa. This species nests mainly in the southern spring from September to November. The nest is a thick-walled cup concealed by foliage in a small tree or shrub.
The brimstone canary or bully canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in central and southern Africa.
The blue-spotted wood dove or blue-spotted dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is abundantly present throughout Africa south of the Sahel; it is partially present in East Africa and absent in southern Africa.
The purple-throated euphonia is a songbird species in the family Fringillidae. It was formerly placed in the Thraupidae.
The Réunion olive white-eye is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is found on Réunion. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.
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.