The Tristan thrush (''Turdus eremita''), also known as the starchy,
[Hince (2000).] is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
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
thrush family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the
British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...
of the isolated
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascensi ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
in the
South Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
.
Description
The bird was described by
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
as being similar in size and appearance to the
song thrush, and by
Henry Moseley as like a very dark-coloured song thrush.
[ However, it also has the short rounded wings and reduced keel indicative of a reduced need for flight, typical of bird species adapted to life on small islands.][
This thrush typically has a length of about . The ]nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
from Tristan differs from that from Nightingale Island, with the Tristan birds being warm dark brown on the upperparts rather than dull sooty-brown, rufous rather than dark fuscous on the sides of the head, and rufous-brown, rather than brownish-black, on the underparts. Birds from Inaccessible Island appear to be intermediate, with the sides of the head of a specimen from there speckled both rufous and fuscous.
Distribution and habitat
The thrush is found on Tristan, Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands in the Tristan group. It uses all the 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 available on the islands, including rocky shorelines, tussock grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
, fern
The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...
-dominated shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...
and wet heathland.[
]
Taxonomy
The thrush is thought to have evolved from an ancestor in the genus '' Turdus'' from South America, and resembles an immature austral thrush, but its adaptations to life on a small island group, including an unusual brush-tipped tongue
The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper s ...
modified for extracting the contents of eggs, have been used as reasons to warrant its separation into the monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Nesocichla''.[ However, molecular analysis has indicated that not only is it part of a South American ]clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
of ''Turdus'', but also that it falls squarely within that genus.[Voelker et al. (2007).]
There are three subspecies, the ranges of which correspond to the three main islands in the group:[BirdLife International (2010).][Internet Bird Collection.]
* ''Turdus eremita eremita'' Gould, 1855 (Tristan da Cunha)
* ''Turdus eremita gordoni'' Stenhouse, 1924 (Inaccessible Island)
* ''Turdus eremita procax'' Elliott, 1954 (Nightingale, Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands)
Behaviour
Breeding
The thrush breeds from September to February. Its cup-shaped nest is woven from strands of grasses and other vegetation, and sited on or close to the ground. It lays a clutch of two or three, occasionally four, eggs. The fledging period is about 20 days.[
]
Feeding
An opportunistic omnivore and scavenger, the thrush feeds on earthworms and other invertebrates of the soil and leaf litter, as well as on carrion, berries,[ the eggs and fledglings of other birds, and kitchen scraps.][
]
Bird predation
In 2010 a paper published by Peter Ryan and Rob Ronconi in the journal '' Ardea'' reported an observation of Tristan thrushes breaking open an egg of the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross. They also found that the thrush is a regular predator of the eggs and small chicks of the great shearwater, being responsible for almost half of the egg losses by that species during the early incubation period in a colony on Inaccessible Island.[ They saw evidence that the thrushes remove eggs of the spectacled petrel (a breeding endemic of Inaccessible Island) from their nesting burrows. The thrushes are also known to kill both white-bellied and white-faced storm petrels directly, probably by taking them from their burrows.][Cooper (2010).] Furthermore, they have been observed to drink blood from penguins. The thrushes will also prey on the chicks, and occasionally the adults, of the Inaccessible Island rail. With the exception of seabirds such as the brown skua and rare vagrant raptors, the Tristan thrush is the largest terrestrial predator on Tristan da Cunha, occupying a unique position in its ecosystem for a songbird.
Status and conservation
The thrush is classified as near threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...
because it has a small population with a restricted range. Predation by black rat
The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
s on Tristan is an ongoing threat, though the other islands it occupies are rat-free. The feral cat
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s that previously occupied Tristan have been eradicated. Conservation recommendations by BirdLife International are to continue regular population monitoring, to control rats on Tristan, and to prevent further introductions of mammalian predators.[
]
Population
A survey in 1972–1974 estimated the separate island populations as Tristan 40–60 pairs, Inaccessible 100–500 pairs, Nightingale 300–500 pairs, Middle 20–40 pairs and Stoltenhoff 10–20 pairs. In the 1980s the population of Inaccessible Island was revised to 850 pairs, and the total population for the whole group to about 6,000 individual birds. More recently, the number of birds on Tristan has been roughly estimated at several hundred. The population is stable with no evidence of decline in numbers or range.[
]
References
Notes
Sources
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External links
Photos, Videos and Spottings
on Birds of the world
Image of specimen at the University of Amsterdam
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075632
Birds described in 1855
Birds of Tristan da Cunha
Birds of subantarctic islands
Turdidae
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Endemic fauna of Tristan da Cunha
Endemic birds of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha