{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | image = Olive-thrush.jpg | image_caption = Olive thrush adult, Greyton, South Africa | image2 = Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus) (W1CDR0000988 BD11).ogg | image2_caption = Song recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2017 |title=''Turdus olivaceus'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T103888967A119723556 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T103888967A119723556.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Turdus | species = olivaceus | authority = Linnaeus, 1766 }}
The '''olive thrush''' ('''''Turdus olivaceus''''') is, in its range, one of the most common members of the thrush family (Turdidae). It occurs in African highlands from the montane regions in Eastern and Central Africa in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south.<ref name="Bowie"/> It is a bird of forest and woodland, but has locally adapted to parks and large gardens in suburban areas.
==Taxonomy== In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the olive thrush in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name ''Le merle olive du Cap de Bonne Espérance'' and the Latin ''Merula Olivacea Capitis Bonae Spei''.<ref name="Brisson"/> Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.<ref name="Allen"/> When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his ''Systema Naturae'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.<ref name="Allen" /> One of these was the olive thrush. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name ''Turdus olivaceus'' and cited Brisson's work.<ref name= "Linnaeus"/>
Six subspecies are recognised:<ref name="IOC"/> * ''T. o. milanjensis'' Shelley, 1893 – south Malawi and northwest Mozambique * ''T. o. swynnertoni'' Bannerman, 1913 – east Zimbabwe and west Mozambique * ''T. o. transvaalensis'' (Roberts, 1936) – northeast South Africa * ''T. o. culminans'' Clancey, 1982 – east South Africa * ''T. o. olivaceus'' Linnaeus, 1766 – southwest South Africa * ''T. o. pondoensis'' Reichenow, 1917 – southeast South Africa {{multiple image | direction = vertical | align = left | caption_align = center | width = 250 | image1 = Turdus olivaceus 299460984.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Turdus olivaceus 299461933, crop.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = A juvenile and immature of the nominate subspecies near Cape Town, South Africa }} The subspecies differ mainly in the relative amounts of white, orange and brown on the underparts. Several additional populations of African ''Turdus'' thrushes were previously included within this group, but are now most commonly treated as separate species in their own right including the Karoo thrush (''Turdus smithi''), the Somali thrush (''Turdus ludoviciae'') and the more northerly Abyssinian thrush, also known as the Northern olive thrush and Mountain thrush, ''T. abyssinicus'', itself also sometimes considered as several separate species (Abyssinian thrush, ''T. abyssinicus'', Usambara thrush, ''T. roehli'' and Taita thrush ''Turdus helleri'').<ref name="Bowie"/>
==Description== It can reach a length of {{cvt|24|cm}} and a weight of at least {{cvt|101|g}}. The tail and the upperparts are coloured dull olive brown. The belly is white and the rest of the underparts have an orange hue. The throat is speckled with white spots. It can be found in evergreen forests, parks, and gardens.
The male's song is a mix of fluted, whistled and trilled phrases, which varies geographically. It occasionally mimics other birds.
==Behaviour== The female builds a cup nest, typically {{cvt|2|to|9|m}} above the ground in a tree or hedge. The 1–3 (usually 2) eggs are incubated solely by the female for 14–15 days to hatching, and the chicks fledge in another 16 days.
Its diet consists of earthworms, insects, snails, fruits, and spiders. It's been reported to engage in worm charming in order to bring worms to the surface.<ref name="ESPN">{{Cite web |date=2007-03-20 |first=Keith |last=Sutton|title=Fiddling for worms |url=https://www.espn.com/outdoors/fishing/columns/story?columnist=sutton_keith&page=g_col_Sutton_fiddling_for_worms |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=ESPN |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist |refs = <ref name="Allen">{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 | hdl=2246/678 }}</ref> <ref name="Bowie">{{cite journal |last1=Bowie |first1=Rauri |last2=Voelker |first2=Gary |last3=Fjeldså |first3=Jon |last4=Lens |first4=Luc |last5=Hackett |first5=Shannon |last6=Crowe |first6=Timothy |title=Systematics of the Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus Species Complex with Reference to the Taxonomic Status of the Endangered Taita Thrush ''T. helleri'' |journal=Journal of Avian Biology |date=2005 |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=391–404 |doi=10.1111/j.0908-8857.2005.03459.x |url=https://africanbirds.fieldmuseum.org/sites/africanbirds.fieldmuseum.org/files/Bowie%20et%20al%202005%20Olive%20Thrush%20J%20Avian%20Biol.pdf |access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref> <ref name="Brisson">{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=2 | language=fr, la | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | pages=294–296, Plate 22 fig 3 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36011542 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.</ref> <ref name="IOC">{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Thrushes | work=World Bird List Version 8.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/thrushes/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 May 2018 }}</ref> <ref name= "Linnaeus">{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae: per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | page=292 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946488 }}</ref> }}
==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * Bo T Bonnevie, ''The biology of suburban Olive Thrushes'' (Turdus olivaceus olivaceus) ''in the Eastern Cape, South Africa'' (2005). M.Sc. thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa *{{ cite book | last1=Clement | first1=Peter |last2=Hathway | first2=Ren | year=2000 | title=Thrushes | series=Helm Identification Guides | place=London | publisher=A & C Black | isbn=978-0-7136-3940-7 }} * Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'', {{ISBN|1-86872-721-1}} {{refend}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * Olive thrush - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/577.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]. *[https://thebdi.org/2022/11/10/olive-thrush-turdus-olivaceus/ Olive thrush] Structured guide to the species in southern Africa
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olive thrush olive thrush Category:Southern Afromontane endemic bird species olive thrush olive thrush