African Wildlife Environment Issue 75 FINAL

BIRDING

The Olive has a brown eye ring, Karoo yellow eye ring and Kurrichane an orange eye ring. Olive upper breast is a tinged orange, Karoo, dusky brown, and Kurrichane has a clear white belly. Going further in understanding differences the Kurrichane has a white throat with distinctive dark malar (moustache) strips running on either side of the beak. The Kurrichane Thrush is slightly smaller than the other two thrushes this bird is being compared to (22 cm as opposed to 24 cm). With regard to the preferred habitats, all three species frequent well-established gardens, with tall trees, which is directly linked with their expansion into urban areas. The Olive prefers evergreen forests, and forest edges, especially to the east of their range, while the Karoo Thrush is found in more riverine vegetation, and on the highveld found in

Kurrichane Thrush distribution

Karoo Thrush distribution

Karoo Thrush (Photograph: Albert Froneman)

the woodlands. The Karoo Thrush is the eighth most common bird species in gardens in Johannesburg. Finally, the Kurrichane goes for woodlands, exotic plantations, valley bushveld and riverine bush. This thrush prefers large gardens with tall trees. If one looks at the distribution maps of these three thrushes one can see the exact distribution of the three species. Both the Olive and Karoo thrushes are endemic to Southern Africa, with higher densities in man-made landscapes. Where there is overlapping of areas, there is no evidence of cross-breeding.

Olive Thrush distribution

Latest SABAP2 distribution mapping for all three featured Thrushes Thanks to Renier Balt for extracting and providing the relevant data from the SABAP2 website

39 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 75 (2020)