The Comoros thrush (''Turdus bewsheri'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
in the family
Turdidae. It is found in the
Comoros Islands
The Comoro Islands or Comoros (Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northwe ...
in the south western
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
.
Description
The Comoros thrush is a brown bird with olive tinged upperparts, slightly more rufous on the tail and wings. The underparts are whitish except for brown flanks and brown scaling on the breast and belly, central belly and undertail coverts are white. The females are browner than the males but otherwise similar, juveniles are more rufous. The length is 24 cm.
Voice
The song is a typically thrush-like series of melodious, rich notes which varies between islands. ALarm call is a sharp "''twit''" and there is a soft contact call.
[
]
Distribution and subspecies
There are three recognised subspecies, each endemic to a single island. They are:
Habitat
Comoro thrush occurs in evergreen primary forest and forest edge from sea level to 700m, except for the subspecies ''T.B. comorensis'' which occurs on Mount Karthala[ above this altitude as no forests exist lower than this.][
]
Habits
The Comoro thrush normally forages low down in the understorey or on the ground, looking fore spiders, grasshoppers, bugs, molluscs and some fruit and seeds. Will go higher into the canopy to feed on fruit.epiphyte
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...
s or along a horizontal branch. the normal clutch is 2 eggs.[
]
Conservation
The Comoro thrush is classified as Near threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...
by the IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
and the main threat is habitat loss through forest degradation due to clearance by subsistence farmers and firewood cutting.[
]
References
External links
recordings at Xeno-Canto
{{Taxonbar, from=Q868591
Comoros thrush
The Comoros thrush (''Turdus bewsheri'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in the Comoros Islands in the south western Indian Ocean.
Description
The Comoros thrush is a brown bird with olive tinged upperparts, slightly mor ...
Endemic birds of the Comoros
Comoros thrush
The Comoros thrush (''Turdus bewsheri'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in the Comoros Islands in the south western Indian Ocean.
Description
The Comoros thrush is a brown bird with olive tinged upperparts, slightly mor ...
Taxa named by Edward Newton
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot