Tristan thrush
| Tristan thrush | |
|---|---|
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| On Nightingale Island | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Turdidae |
| Genus: |
Turdus Gould, 1855 |
| Species: | T. eremita |
| Binomial name | |
|
Turdus eremita Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Tristan thrush (Turdus eremita), also known as the starchy, is a species of bird in the thrush family that is endemic to the British overseas territories of the isolated Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The bird was described by John Gould as being similar in size and appearance to the song thrush, and by Henry Moseley as like a very dark-coloured song thrush. However, it also has the short rounded wings and reduced keel indicative of a reduced need for flight, typical of bird species adapted to life on small islands.
The nominate subspecies from Tristan differs from that from Nightingale Island, with the Tristan birds being warm dark brown on the upperparts rather than dull sooty-brown, rufous rather than dark fuscous on the sides of the head, and rufous-brown, rather than brownish-black, on the underparts. Birds from Inaccessible Island appear to be intermediate, with the sides of the head of a specimen from there speckled both rufous and fuscous.
The thrush is found on Tristan, Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands in the Tristan group. It uses all the natural habitats available on the islands, including rocky shorelines, tussock grassland, fern-dominated shrubland and wet heathland.
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Wikipedia