Toonuk Thrush
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Toonuk
Thrush, Geokichla
toonukus L 20-26 cm, WS 35-40 cm, Family: Turdidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable (VU)
Description:
Large
songbird with plump body and long, slender legs. Similar in shape to other
thrushes, including the Halley’s Robin. Dark brown upperparts with black
spotting and a band in the wings. Throat and breast black with white edging,
fading to a white belly. Face has two distinct light spots below eye. Straight bill
and large dark eyes. Males and females similar, though females may appear lighter
and more dull brown. In flight, brown wings have obvious white and dark patch
in the primaries and obvious white wing lining.
Voice:
Song
is a series of squeaks, short trills, and warbles. Flute-like, but less so than
most other thrushes, and generally less musical. Pattern variable, but typically
starts with a few squeaky call notes, followed by a fluty trill and a rising or
descending warble. Shorter songs are common, usually just the trilling from the
long song. Call notes variable, sound similar to Halley’s Robin.
Range and Habitat:
Year-round
range encompasses much of western Novasola’s mountains and forests. During
winter they may also be found at lower elevation rainforests. Old-growth specialists,
Toonuk Thrushes are rarely seen outside mature forests with dense understories,
especially coopers-fir or redwood rainforests, or high elevation fir stands. They
especially prefer shaded, wet areas and steep-sided valleys.
Discussion:
Shy
in nature and at home deep in Novasola’s dark, wet forests, the Toonuk Thrush,
like other forest thrushes, can be difficult to observe. Combined with their
low population numbers, relatively little is known about Toonuk Thrushes. As such,
they are popular among birders and seen as an enigmatic animal of the
northwest.
Toonuk
Thrushes are old-growth specialists, meaning they rely heavily on intact stands
of mature montane forests as habitat, especially wet forests dominated by
coopers-fir, island redwood, hemlock, spruce, and cedar and alpine forests of
larch and firs. They are commonly associated with densely foliated valleys,
ravines, and drainages, or western slopes that receive plenty of rain and fog.
In this way, they are similar to Varied Thrushes of mainland North America,
though only distantly related. As Novasolan forests are subject to increasing pressure
from logging, Toonuk Thrushes are suffering greatly from habitat loss, though
it is thought that steep gullies, usually the last parcels to be cleared in
logging operations, may act as refugia for remaining populations. Toonuk
Thrushes build nests in the understory, usually around two meters off the
ground in small conifers or large shrubs like yew, alder, and rhododendron. Nests
are cups made mostly of moss and lichens. They will occasionally nest in
cavities like old woodpecker holes of hollow snags, though the extent of this
behavior is unknown.
During
breeding, males will sing to defend territories and attract mates. Unlike the
Fay and Russet Thrushes, whose voices are extremely loud, Toonuk Thrushes are
much quieter, and males will often sing from high up in the canopy, which is
thought to allow their songs to carry farther. They form generally monogamous
pairs, but it is unknown whether Toonuk Thrush pairs stay together after the
nesting season, or whether they stay with the same mates in consecutive years.
Females will do most of the work building the nest and incubating eggs, while
the male will defend the territory and bring the female food. Once chicks have
fledged, thrushes will abandon the territory and become nomadic, sometimes forming
small flocks, until the next breeding season.
The
Toonuk Thrush’s diet consists mostly of invertebrates, especially worms and caterpillars,
but also beetles, millipedes, and spiders. They will also supplement their diet
with fruits like yew berries, huckleberries and blackberries. Toonuk Thrushes
mostly forage alone or in pairs along the ground. They will occasionally come
to bird feeders and eat feed like sunflower seeds, peanuts, and suet.
Because
the Toonuk Thrush is a shy thrush of mature rainforests with unique markings
and a flute-like voice, it is often compared to, and indeed fills a similar
niche to, the Varied Thrush, which also often appears on Novasola. These similarities
are mostly due to convergent eveolution, however, as they are not closely
related. Instead, the Toonuk Thrush is most closely related to the Siberian
Thrush and Pied Thrush of Asia and represents the only New World member of its
genus. Its ancestors likely came to Novasola over the Bering land bridge from
Asia and were eventually isolated. The name Toonuk Thrush is a bit of an
etymological mystery. The species was originally described in 1903 by Richard
Reichwald, but his writings give no indication as to the meaning of the name. “Toonuk”
is almost certainly originally an indigenous word, or an anglicization of one,
likely of a Taiyalun language. However, no modern-day speakers of Novasolan indigenous
languages know its meaning. Several historians and linguists have debated its
meaning, and the two most widely accepted theories are that either “toonuk” is
a name of a region, river, mountain, or area from which the bird type specimen was
acquired, or it is an “extinct” word, having originally been used by some tribe
or group to describe the bird or another like it, but lost to time after the decades
of genocide and forced assimilation of indigenous peoples. Perhaps
unsurprisingly, the Toonuk Thrush has become a sort of mascot for environmental
justice and indigenous conservation groups.
The
first written descriptions of the Toonuk Thrush come from Russian colonists and
fur-traders in the 18th century, mostly about their songs. It wasn’t
until the second NRC expedition in 1903 that the bird was written about in English,
when Richard Reichwald officially described the bird for science. Since then
the bird has remained poorly studied and understood. They were likely much more
common during Reichwald’s time, as he describes them as relatively common.
“But
for the winter, when it may visit the gardens of Vodograd, the Toonuk Thrush is
a denizen of only the deepest, darkest, and dampest forests and glades. A recluse
in these misty places, the Thrush is content to solitary life until breeding,
and even then limits its time with its mate to only the months of April through
July. Though secretive, and wholly hermitical, the Toonuk Thrush can
nonetheless be found in great numbers, especially along the southern shores of
the Chidkayook River and the Great Shadow Lake. Smaller strongholds may be
found in alpine forests throughout the western Uludacks.
…
Though
not as ethereal and ghostly as that of the Fay Thrush, the Toonuk Thrush’s song
still haunts the western mountains with a typically thrush-like whistle. Short
trills and soft fluting by breeding males during the spring months can be heard
from treetops, and both sexes give robin-like and blackbird-like calls which
decorate the understory. But their voices are not so decorative as their
plumage: striking patterns of spots and stripes ornament this otherwise covert
bird. Though in the hand they may appear garish, the Toonuk’s dark tones and
dappled spots are exceptional camouflage for its habitat.” – Native Birds of
Novasola, 1912
“Our
trail has for many days now followed along an overgrown stream, which, so
narrow and filled with downed trees and mossy islands, is far removed from the
mighty torrent I know it to become. Should anyone familiar with the roaring
waters of the lower Chidkayook, as yet I am not, see its headwaters here in
this mossy glen would strain to recognize it. For what this stream lacks in
grandeur it compensates with an abundance of bird life. Warblers and wrens sing
out from every alder and willow, but so too does a most unique bird I have for
the first time encountered this morning. Pied with black and white spots and curious
white cheeks bifurcated by a black teardrop, it is no doubt a member of the thrushes.
In voice and build it is similar to the comet thrush, and in this watershed
more common.” – Expedition log, July 10, 1903