Russet-tailed Thrush (Zoothera heinei)

Other Names (World)
Russet-tailed Thrush, Papuan Olive-tailed Thrush (papuensis)

Family
Turdidae (Thrushes)

Size
23 - 25 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Cabanis, 1850)

Derivation
Zo-o'-ther-a - Gk, zoos, alive, or zoon, animal; Gk, therao, I hunt: heinei - Ferdinand Heine (1809 - 1894), a German ornithologist and collector, who founded the Museum Heineanum at Halberstadt, Germany

Habitat
Rainforests, including subtropical and dry rainforests, and dense wet eucalypt forests. From 300 - 1,700 m.

Range (Guide)

Australia (B).

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Earthworms, insects, molluscs and fallen fruit.

Voice
Thereal, high-pitched, 'peer, pooee' or 'peer, purr', tending to fall, then rise, repeated at slow intervals.

(36Kb) © ? (1)

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (10)...)

Russet-tailed Thrush (Zoothera heinei) [XC351196]
by Mike FitzGerald from O'Reilly, Scenic Rim Regional, Queensland, Australia (call, song)

Russet-tailed Thrush (Zoothera heinei) [XC155115]
by Greg McLachlan from Lamington National Park (near O'reilly), Queensland, Australia (song)

Nest
A rounded cup, composed of bark strips, leaves and grasses, decorated on the outside with green moss and lined with rootlets, in the fork of a tree, or on a stump.

Eggs (Guide)
2 - 3; pale greenish blue, with minute flecks of chestnut-red; oval; about 31 x 22 mm. Incubation: probably about 14 - 15 days; by female.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 14 - 15 days. Fed by both parents.

Subspecies
Forms a group, possibly a superspecies, with Sri Lanka Thrush (Zoothera imbricata), Bassian Thrush (Zoothera lunulata), Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma), Fawn-breasted Thrush (Zoothera machiki), New Britain Thrush (Zoothera talaseae), Makira Thrush (Zoothera margaretae), Guadalcanal Thicketbird (Megalurulus turipavae), Long-billed Thrush (Zoothera monticola) and Dark-sided Thrush (Zoothera marginata), perhaps including also Alpine Thrush (Zoothera mollissima) and Long-tailed Thrush (Zoothera dixoni).

Previously treated as a subspecies of Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma). Has also been considered conspecific with Bassian Thrush (Zoothera lunulata), but in Australia the two occur sympatrically without interbreeding, and also differ in song and egg colour. Supposed intergrades probably immature Bassian Thrush (Zoothera lunulata).

The following 4 subspecies are recognised:

papuensis (Seebohm, 1881) - West-central to south-eastern New Guinea.
eichhorni (Rothschild & Hartert, 1924) - Mussau, in St Matthias Group (Bismarck Archipelago).
choiseuli (Hartert, 1924) - Choiseul, in Solomon Is.
heinei (Cabanis, 1850) - Eastern (possibly also north-east) Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, in eastern Australia.

References
See References.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9

Files:

JPG files for Russet-tailed Thrush (Zoothera heinei) - 10 files

MP3 files for Russet-tailed Thrush (Zoothera heinei) - 1 files

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