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Abyssinian Ground-Thrush Geokichla piaggiae Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2005

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

19–20 cm; 43–65 g. Nominate race is pale olive-brown from cheeks to hindcrown and upperparts, with darker wing-coverts, double white-spotted wingbars; dull rufous forehead and underparts, shading to whitish belly to undertail-coverts; white eyering; bill dark; legs flesh. Sexes similar. Juvenile is buff-streaked brown above, orange-buff with blackish scaling below, wingbars as adult, face with vague dark subocular smudge and blackish malar. Racial variation slight: hadii is more brownish-olive above; kilimensis resembles previous, but deeper orange; rowei is like last, but more olive above, and paler orange; ruwenzorii is slightly larger than nominate, with more extensive rufous on crown, darker and more extensive orange below; tanganjicae has entire crown deep brownish-rufous, with brighter russet on rump, female slightly duller.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Considerable individual variation throughout range, and several races perhaps invalid; conversely, apparent morphological differences between populations at different elevations suggest that several species (with presumably rather more distinctive vocalizations) may be involved. Rufous-crowned form tanganjicae often treated as separate species, but no clear vocal differences identified; further study needed. Arrangement hereunder should be regarded as provisional. Birds of Mt Muhavura sometimes separated as race williamsi, but probably better merged into tanganjicae. Six subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (POLYTYPIC)

Abyssinian Ground-Thrush (Abyssinian) Geokichla piaggiae [piaggiae Group]

Geokichla piaggiae piaggiae
G. p. piaggiae
Available illustrations of subspecies in this group
SUBSPECIES

Geokichla piaggiae piaggiae Scientific name definitions

Distribution
SE South Sudan (Boma Hills) and Ethiopia S to E DRCongo (S to Kahuzi and Itombwe Mts), E Uganda and N and W Kenya.
SUBSPECIES

Geokichla piaggiae hadii Scientific name definitions

Distribution
S South Sudan (Imatong and Dongotona Mts).
SUBSPECIES

Geokichla piaggiae ruwenzorii Scientific name definitions

Distribution
Rwenzori Mts (W Uganda).
SUBSPECIES

Geokichla piaggiae kilimensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution
C and S Kenya and N Tanzania (Mt Kilimanjaro).
SUBSPECIES

Geokichla piaggiae rowei Scientific name definitions

Distribution
extreme S Kenya (Nguruman Hills) and N Tanzania.
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Abyssinian Ground-Thrush (Kivu) Geokichla piaggiae tanganjicae Scientific name definitions

Geokichla piaggiae tanganjicae
G. p. tanganjicae

Distribution

E DRCongo (E Kivu), SW Uganda (Kigezi, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Mt Muhavura), Rwanda and N Burundi.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Primary montane forest, normally at 2000–3000 m, but 1700–3600 m on Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), to 3300 m on Mt Kenya, above 2130 m in S Sudan and, on smaller isolated mountains, generally lower (e.g. 1310–1560 m on Mt Marsabit, 1800–1860 m on Mt Kulal). Race tanganjicae reportedly occurs in lower montane forests at 1530–2040 m, with specimens from 2900 m and 2325 m, but in Nyungwe Forest (Rwanda) at 1750–2700 m. Found in range of forest conditions, from tall closed-canopy forest with open floor and extensive middle stratum to short, open-canopy woodland with extensive undergrowth and tracts of short grass; tends to avoid secondary and logged forest, and rare or exceptional in exotic conifer plantations. At higher elevations occupies mixed forest, bamboo, and moorland copses of Hagenia, Erica and Philippia; at lower ones in lush undergrowth with tree-ferns, balsams and brambles (Rubus). In Ethiopia found in olive-juniper-Podocarpus forest. Particularly favours bamboo zone on Mt Kenya. On Kilimanjaro, occurs especially where forest floor densely covered with moss and lichen.

Movement

Resident, with limited altitudinal movements; suggested that race tanganjicae moves from Bwindi Forest (down to 1600 m) to higher altitude (2500 m or higher) when not breeding.

Diet and Foraging

Invertebrates and fruit. Diet includes insects and their eggs and larvae (grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, hymenopterans), earthworms, snails, other small molluscs, and millipedes; also berries, small fruits (including Pauridintha paucinervis), fruit pulp and seeds. Forages on ground among moss, lichen and leaf litter, usually in deep cover; at dusk, also on short-grass tracks in semi-open for worms; follows ant swarms. Seasonally, takes fruits in low bushes and trees, associating with bulbuls (Pycnonotidae).

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song, typically from low concealed perch in deep twilight, a series of well-spaced, tuneful phrases consisting of 3–12 whistled notes, usually (not always) each phrase repeated 2–4 times with minor variations, but each differing consideraby from preceding one, “wurr tiiu wiiu wur-wiiu-tiwii, (wichu-tsik) trrrrwiiiu, siisurrwiii, tiuwii (chikuchik) wurwiiiotuwiiii” and so on, similar to that of Z. gurneyi but richer and flutier; race tanganjicae slower, longer and more rambling. Call in alarm a shrill musical rattle or a high, thin “seep”.

Breeding

Mainly during rains: Feb–May and Sept in Ethiopia, May in Sudan; Apr and Oct in DRCongo, Apr–Jun and Oct–Jan in Rwanda, and Mar, Jul and Nov in Uganda; Mar–Jun and probably Nov–Dec in Kenya. Nest a cup of moss, lined with fern stems and rootlets, placed 1·5–5 m up in tree amid dense foliage or on mossy branch. Eggs 2, pale greenish-blue to bluish-green with chestnut to maroon spots and blotches. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Scarce to locally common; uncommon in Sudan. In Kenya, density in primary forest 0·6 birds/ha, in coniferous plantations 0·07 birds/ha. Race tanganjicae, when accorded species status, is considered Near-threatened; known from at least ten forest blocks, three of which are national parks, and lie within the Albertine Rift Mountains EBA; closed forest apparently optimum habitat for this race, which occurs at densities there of 0·4 pairs/ha. Race rowei of N Tanzania little known; observation in 1993 was apparently first since it was initially described, in 1931.
Distribution of the Abyssinian Ground-Thrush - Range Map
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Distribution of the Abyssinian Ground-Thrush

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. (2020). Abyssinian Ground-Thrush (Geokichla piaggiae), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.abgthr1.01
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