Russet Thrush
 |
| Click image to enlarge |
Russet Thrush, Pseudocatharus tibia L 14-18 cm, WS 27-32 cm, Family: Turdidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Chunky, medium-sized songbird with round body and long legs. Can appear quite plump when perched, leaner when running or standing. Superficially similar to Catharus thrushes. Rather drab overall, reddish-brown upperparts and light undersides with a cream colored throat. Upper breast covered in dark spots. Slender, straight bill and large dark eyes. Males and females mostly indistinguishable in the field. Distinguishable from similar Fay Thrush by less spotting on the undersides and no spotting on the throat, and richer brown color.
Voice:
Song is a beautiful, haunting melody begins with a high whistled note followed by a series of descending spiral warbles. Song often written as “Ooh purity purity purity”. Quality very flute-like, tinny, echoing. Pattern differentiates it from similar Fay Thrush. Various calls, most common is a metallic prrr-prrr, and sharp tinks. Frequently produces a chink call when taking off.
Range and Habitat:
Summer range encompasses most of western Novasola and the eastern forest regions. Occasionally found around Fairweather Sound, but not in prairie interior. Migrates to spend winter in Central America. Forest generalists, Russet Thrushes avoid open areas and are most frequently seen in forests with dense understories. Spends much of the time on or near the ground, but will also be seen higher in trees even reaching the canopy. Their willingness to forage at any height in the forest vegetation helps distinguish it from Fay Thrushes. Shy, can be difficult to spot in the shadows of the forest brush, but less so than the Fay.
Discussion:
Like the closely related Fay Thrush, the more common Russet is more often heard than seen, their descending flute-like songs echo throughout Novasola’s dark forests. Often considered one of the most beautiful birdsongs in Novasola, it usually comes second only to the Fay. Sound is often the best way to distinguish the Fay Thrush from the Russet Thrush.
Russets will forage for food at any height within the forest ecosystem, from canopy to floor, but prefers to spend time on the ground hunting insects like ants, beetles, caterpillars, and bees, but will transition their diets in the winter to eat more fruit. Their large eyes are adaptations to the low light levels of the undergrowth, and unsurprisingly their eyes are proportionally smaller than the Fay’s reflecting their more general habitat preferences.
Russet Thrushes breed on Novasola but migrate off island for the winter, arriving in late April to early May and leave around the beginning of September. Males usually arrive earlier than females and immediately begin establishing territories, which they do mostly through song. It is common to hear multiple neighboring males singing back and forth to one another. In both Pseudocatharus thrushes, Fay and Russet, breeding females build nests on the ground, usually at the base of trees and hidden by low vegetation, and do all the incubation, while males defend the nest and bring food to the female.
The genus name Pseudocatharus comes from the Latin for “false Catharus” because of the many superficial similarities with that genus. Species name tibia means “flute”. The Cishtaklun word for the Russet thrush is talatik.
Perhaps the first major taxonomic challenge for Reichwald was describing the Pseudocatharus thrushes. It was Reichwald who first split them from Catharus thrushes, and he was also the first to split the Russet and Fay Thrushes into separate species. He first described the Russet Thrush in April of 1902, before ever encountering one, using only secondhand information from Cape George locals. The first Russet Thrush Reichwald saw was on May 1, 1902 in the first expedition, in an area it is now uncommon to see Russets.
“Locals tell of a small brown songbird with a beautiful voice like a flute’s, all descriptions bring to mind the Catharus thrushes of the mainland. Current information suggests a russet-colored ground thrush with dark spotting on the breast.” – Expedition log, April 10, 1902
“Dr. Sloan has procured for me a specimen which was found recently dead by one of the pan traps. The cause of death unknown, but was surely internal, as the carcass and plumage are in fine condition. This bird is no doubt the russet-colored thrush mentioned in many earlier accounts, and the same creature whose tin song has accompanied this first morning in Fairweather Sound. The Russet Thrush has a white throat and belly which contrast with the dark back and face, a more cream-colored breast with dark chocolate spots, and long pinkish legs. This is not doubt a relative of the wood thrushes of North America, but distinct in enough characters to warrant new taxonomy.” – Expedition log, May 1, 1902
“The stunning song of the Russet Thrush is as essential to the Novasolan condition as salt is to the ocean. Hidden to us may they be, the Thrush is a challenge and a treat to observant outdoorsmen of all ambitions, and perhaps that secrecy is best. Perhaps we as men are of the Thrush’s company undeserving.” – Native Birds of Novasola, 1912