Taita Thrush

The Taita thrush was previously classified as subspecies of the olive thrush (Turdus olivaceus), but it is now treated as distinct species. It reaches a length between 20 and 22 centimetres. The head and upperparts are dark grey-brown to black, the breast is grey, the underparts are white, and the flanks are rufous-red. The eye is dark with a narrow yellow or orange eye-ring, and the bill and legs are bright orange. It was named after the zoologist Edmund Heller (1875–1939), a workmate of the American ornithologist Edgar Alexander Mearns (1856–1916) who first described this species in 1913.

The Taita thrush is a forest-dependent endemic bird confined to four forests in the Taita Hills in the south east of Kenya: Mbololo, Chawia, Yale and Ngangao. The forests cover a tiny 342 ha. Conservationists are using birds, with the thrush as the flagship species, to champion the conservation of the Taita Hills forests.

It is restricted to montane moist forests. Despite its natural native habitat having been severely logged in the past, it has avoided forests with secondary growth, shrub vegetation, and cultivated areas. Extensive research has shown only minimal migration between the fragmented populations.