Ethiopian Thrush
Turdus simensis
A long-legged short-tailed thrush with brown upperparts, heavily spotted buff underparts, and a strongly marked face. In flight, shows distinctive large buff patches in the broad wings. Pairs and small groups occupy open montane habitats, including moorland, grassland, and woodland, often in heavily grazed and burned areas. Runs long distances on the ground hunting invertebrates, stopping bolt upright and flicking its wings. The song is a series of rough, spitted whistles. Calls include an upslurred “wheet” given singly or in series, and a dry rattle.
Taxonomy
The Ethiopian thrush was formally described in 1837 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell from a specimen collected in northern Ethiopia. He used the scientific name Merula (Turdus) simensis. The specific epithet is from the type locality, the Simien Mountains.<p>This thrush has sometimes been considered as a subspecies of the groundscraper thrush (Turdus litsitsirupa).
- Scientific name
- Turdus simensis
- Authority
- (Rüppell, 1837)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Turdidae
- Genus
- Turdus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Northern Pintail
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Elegant, slender duck with long neck and tail. Males have a chocolate brown head with a white slash coming up the neck, white breast, and mostly gray body. Females are patterned light brown. Forages in wetlands and in fields on agricultural waste grains.
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