The red-backed thrush or rusty-backed thrush (''Geokichla erythronota'') 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. Traditionally, it included the

red-and-black thrush The red-and-black thrush (''Geokichla mendeni''), also known as the Peleng thrush, is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to forests on the Indonesian islands of Taliabu and Peleng, where threatened by habitat loss. Traditio ...

(''Z. mendeni'') as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to forests on

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

and the nearby islands of Buton and

Kabaena Kabaena or Tokotua is an island in the Flores Sea, Indonesia, off the coast of Sulawesi. Most of it is a part of Bombana Regency within Southeast Sulawesi province, although the southernmost district (Talaga Raya) is administratively part of Cen ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is becoming rare due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Taxonomy

''Geokichla erythronota'' is very similar in morphology to the

chestnut-backed thrush The chestnut-backed thrush (''Geokichla dohertyi'') is a ground thrush species endemic to Lombok, Timor and the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The species is rapidly declining and it is already extinct on Lombok and possibly on Lesser Sunda. ...

(''Geokichla dohertyi'') and some authorities believe they are conspecific. Others believe they are distinct. A subspecies (''G. e. kabaena'') has been named from

and some researchers believe there is an unnamed race of ''G. erythronota'' on the island of Buton, the status of which needs to be evaluated.

Description

The red-backed thrush is about long and the sexes are largely similar in appearance.

References

Birds described in 1859 Taxa named by Philip Sclater Geokichla Endemic birds of Sulawesi Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Turdidae-stub