The spotted palm thrush (''Cichladusa guttata''), also known as the spotted morning-thrush, 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 Muscicapidae family. They are small birds mostly consisting of the colors brown, black, and cream. They can be found in eastern African countries such as

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

.BirdLife International (2018). "
Cichladusa guttata
'". ''IUCN Red List of Threatened Species''. 2018: e.T22709876A131880415. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22709876A131880415.en. Retrieved 4 March 2024. Their natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, and subtropical or tropical moist

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

. This bird is a forager that has a diet consisting of

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

. These birds create a variety of different vocal duets as a form of communication.

Appearance

The spotted palm thrush measures around 16-17 centimeters (6.3-6.7 inches) long and weighs around 17-30 grams (<0.1 pounds). This bird features a warm brown color from crown to back and wings, with a dark brown eye stripe, and black-arrowed, creamy white underparts. The males and females are

monomorphic Monomorphic or Monomorphism may refer to: *Monomorphism, an injective homomorphism in mathematics * Monomorphic QRS complex, a wave pattern seen on an electrocardiogram * Monomorphic, a linguistic term meaning "consisting of only one morpheme" *Mo ...

, having little variance in their appearance regardless of

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

Habitat

The spotted palm thrush is located in most parts of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. They can also be found in the easternmost parts of the

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 ...

, and the southernmost parts of

. These birds commonly dwell in habitats along the dense undergrowth within savannas,

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

, dry

watercourses A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ar ...

, thickets, and scrub habitats.

Diet

The spotted palm thrush has a diet consisting of invertebrates, such as small

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastrop ...

, and cordia fruits. At an early age, a spotted palm thrush will mostly eat bush-cricket nymphs, beetle larvae, lampyrinae larvae, and moth caterpillars. Spotted palm thrushes get their food by foraging on the ground, both single and in pairs, in human populated areas near game-park lodges and gardens.

Vocal Behavior

The spotted palm thrush creates different sounds and imitations for different reasons of contact. Two of these main vocal performances include course singing and repetitive singing. Spotted palm thrushes will perform course singing by themselves. Once they are paired with a bird of the opposite sex, they engage in repetitive singing. The

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

of the bird can be distinguished based on their

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

contributions; duets are commonly initiated by males, and females sing during the silent

intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets * A statistical level of measurement * Interval est ...

between male notes. Normally, these duets last around 8 to 20 seconds, and the

duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

and volume of the duet could change based on the birds’ levels of excitement. To indicate their excitement before and after duets, spotted palm thrushes will raise their body, pointing their head and bill upward, and show their spotted throat.

References

spotted palm thrush Birds of East Africa spotted palm thrush Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapidae-stub