Abyssinian Thrush Turdus abyssinicus Scientific name definitions

20–24 cm; 49–87 g (nominate), 52–60 g (bambusicola). Adult has upperparts dark brownish grey, becoming richer brown over forehead, crown, lores and ear-coverts, more olive-grey on chin and throat (with fine black streaking), greyish-olive upper breast, rich rufous-orange lower breast/upper belly and flanks, and white lower belly; orange bill, narrow orange eyering, ochre-yellow legs and feet. Sexes similar. Juvenile  is like adult, but streaked above, with pale spots on wing-coverts, paler with heavy spotting below. Races vary slightly in colour tones: nominate is less olive than T. olivaceus, slightly paler brown, reduced white on throat ; oldeani is like previous, but greyer on breast, and orange heavily suffused with grey; deckeni is richer and darker above than nominate, throat greyish-brown with finer streaks; <em>bambusicola</em> has throat and breast more extensively ashy, lower belly whiter; nyikae is generally darker both above and below; and baraka has lower breast to belly and flanks deep chestnut.

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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.

Wide range of animal and vegetable foods. Animal food includes wide variety of insects (beetles, moths, caterpillars, grasshoppers, mantids, emerging termites, pupae and grubs), earthworms, snails, slugs, spiders, small bivalves and small fish. Vegetable material includes fruits  , including (in Rwanda) Bridelia, Ilex, Polyscias, Rytigynia, Scheffleria, Trema and Urera. Forages on open ground and in shaded cover, flicking leaf litter with bill and scratching it with feet. Occasionally picks insects off branches; fruits are usually taken in canopy, but occasionally on ground. Follows safari ants to take disturbed invertebrates.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally common throughout large latitudinal range, and sometimes abundant, e.g. at lower elevations in Eritrea, and parts of Burundi. Known from many protected areas. In Kenya, seven times commoner in primary forest than in coniferous. In N Malawi/Zambia, will breed in patches of forest smaller than 0·5 ha, but no more than two pairs are typical in areas of 6–12 ha.