The rufous-tailed palm thrush (''Cichladusa ruficauda'') 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 lightweig ...

in the family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Northe ...

Taxonomy

The rufous-tailed palm thrush was described as ''Bradyornis ruficauda'' by Hartlaub in 1857. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

, Republic of the Congo,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Equatorial Guinea,

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

, and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The size of its range is estimated at . Its habitat is palms, dry forests and secondary forests in riparian and coastal areas, at elevations of up to . It also occurs in banana plantations and gardens.

Description

Its length is , and its weight is . The sexes are alike. The head and nape are bright rufous-brown. The back, scapulars and the median and greater

covert Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

s are also rufous-brown, but are slightly paler. The flight feathers are dark brown, with rufous or rufous-brown edges, and the underwing coverts are pale buffish-brown. The rump and tail are rufous-brown or chestnut. The face and neck-sides are mostly pale grey, with the lores being darker. The chin, throat and upper breast are yellowish-buff. The breast and flanks are pale grey, and the centre of the belly is pale buff. The colour of the eyes ranges from brown to red. The beak is black, and the legs can be pale brown, pale purple or bluish-grey. The juvenile bird has dark streaks on its crown and nape and dark bars on its back. Its underparts are mostly greyish, with dark or dusky mottles.

Behaviour

The rufous-tailed palm thrush is shy, usually found in pairs or small groups. It gives the call ''churr'' when alarmed. Its song, usually given at dawn or dusk, is a series of loud and melodious whistles, mixed with babbling and chattering. Pairs of birds sometimes duet. It forages on the ground, mainly feeding on adults and larvae of beetles, spiders, and fruits. Breeding has been recorded from August to April. The species is monogamous. The nest is built at the base of a palm leaf, in a crevice in a tree trunk, and sometimes in other positions. It is a deep, thick cup, made of mud and lined with grass and plant fibres. There are one to four eggs in a clutch. The eggs are pale greenish, with faint freckles. It is not migratory.

Status

The population size of this species is not known. Because it has a large range, appears to have a stable population trend, and does not appear to have substantial threats, the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

has assessed the species as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

External links

* Rufous-tailed palm thrush
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3314649 rufous-tailed palm thrush Birds of Central Africa rufous-tailed palm thrush Taxonomy articles created by Polbot