Animalia Life

Turdus olivaceus
TAXONOMY
Turdus olivaceus Linnaeus, 1766, Cape of Good Hope.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: African thrush, West African thrush; French: Grive olivвtre; German: Kapdrossel; Spanish: Zorzal olivo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
8.3–9.4 in (21–24 cm); 1.9–2.9 oz (54–81 g). Dull olive-brown upperparts and tail, with orange underparts and white vent. Throat is speckled white. Bill and legs are yellow-orange.
DISTRIBUTION
Africa, from Eritrea and Ethiopia discontinuously south to the Cape, west to Angola.
HABITAT
Upland and lowland forest, gardens, and hotel grounds.
BEHAVIOR
Usually solitary, in trees or on ground beneath, foraging with steady, hopping or walking action, often close to buildings in parks and ornamental grounds.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Spiders, ants, termites, grasshoppers, millipedes, and other small invertebrates, various household scraps, and many fruits and berries.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nests almost throughout the year in some parts of its range; nest is large, untidy cup of leaves, grass, bark and roots, lined with mud, in tree fork, built by female; two to three eggs incubated mostly by female for 14–15 days; young fledge after 16 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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