The russet-tailed thrush (''Zoothera heinei'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Turdidae The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

, closely related to the more widespread

Bassian thrush The Bassian thrush (''Zoothera lunulata''), also known as the olive-tailed thrush, is a medium-sized mostly insectivorous thrush found from northern Queensland to southeastern Australia. It also occurs in Tasmania, on some larger islands of Bass ...

(''Zoothera lunulata''). It is found in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are temperate

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Subspecies

There are four subspecies of the russet-tailed thrush. ''Z. h. papuensis'' - montane west-central to northeast (Huon Peninsula) and southeast New Guinea. ''Z. h. eichhorni'' - St. Matthias (=Mussau, north Bismarck Archipelago). ''Z. h. choiseuli'' - montane Choiseul (north-central Solomon Is.; single 1904 record). ''Z. h. heinei'' - east-central, southeast QLD to southeast NSW (eastern Australia).

References

russet-tailed thrush Birds of Queensland Birds of Papua New Guinea russet-tailed thrush Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Jean Cabanis {{Turdidae-stub