Forest thrush explained

The forest thrush (Turdus lherminieri) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It was historically the sole species within the genus Cichlherminia,^[1] however the AOU reclassified the species to the genus Turdus in 2009.

This is a medium-sized thrush at 25–27 cm long and weighing 100–110 g.^[2] Like many thrushes, the forest thrush has brown upperparts with pale underparts showing a scaly pattern of coloration. However, for a thrush it has an unusually wide band of bare skin around each eye. It is endemic to the Lesser Antilles, an island group in the Caribbean. It can be found, though uncommon to rare, on Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, and Saint Lucia. Its natural habitat is tropical moist mountain forest at mid-elevation under closed canopies.^[3]

Two subspecies occur: the Montserrat race and the Dominica race, distinguished by the amount of scaling on the breast. The Dominica race has a white belly and scaled breast, the Montserrat race has scaling all the way from the breast through the upper belly.^[4]

It is threatened by habitat loss. Its population is likely stable.^[5]

It is diurnal.

Notes and References

1. Book: Andy Purvis . John L. Gittleman . Thomas Brooks . 2005 . Phylogeny and Conservation . 8 . Conservation Biology . Conservation status and geographic distribution of avian evolutionary history . 267–294 . Thomas M. Brooks . John D. Pilgrim . Ana S. L. Rodrigues . Gustavo A. B. Da Fonseca . amp . . 978-0-521-82502-3 . https://books.google.com/books?id=3W_TN0790vEC&pg=PA292.
2. Birdlife International Species Factsheet
3. PARASHURAM . DEVATHI . OPPEL . STEFFEN . FENTON . CALVIN . JAMES . GLENFORD . DALEY . JAMES . GRAY . GERARD . COLLAR . NIGEL J. . DOLMAN . PAUL M. . 2015-02-02 . The Forest Thrush Turdus lherminieri prefers mature mesic forest with dense canopy . Bird Conservation International . 25 . 4 . 503–513 . 10.1017/s0959270914000495 . 0959-2709.
4. Book: Garrido . Orlando . Keith . Allan . Raffaele . Herbert . Raffaele . Janis . Wiley . James . Birds of the West Indies . . 2003 . 142–143 . 0-691-11319-X . registration .
5. Jean-Pierre . Aurélie . Loranger-Merciris . G. . Saint-Louis . L. J. . Cézilly . F. . 2023-07-11 . Factors affecting spatial occupancy and local abundance of the Forest Thrush, Turdus lherminieri, in Guadeloupe forests . European Journal of Wildlife Research . 69 . 4 . 10.1007/s10344-023-01698-8 . 1612-4642. free .