Spot-winged thrush

Zoothera spiloptera

Photo by Mapalagama Premasiri (Oriental Bird Images)

Common name:

spot-winged thrush (en); tordo-do-Ceilão (pt); grive à ailes tachetées (fr); zorzal de alas moteadas (es); Ceylondrossel (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Turdidae

Range:

This species is endemic to Sri Lanka.

Size:

They are 21-23 cm long and weigh 70 g.

Habitat:

Spot-winged thrushes are found in damp, evergreen forests, mainly in wet lowlands. They also occur in secondary scrub, plantations and occasionally gardens adjacent to forest. They are usually founs in lowland areas, may be present up to an altitude of 2.000 m.

Diet:

They motsly forage for terrestrial invertebrates on the ground, but will also sally for insects in the air. Occasionally, they also eat berries.

Breeding:

The spot-winged thrush breeds in March-May, and in July-January. The nest consists of a cup made of dead and decaying leaves and stems, lined with fine rootlets and leaf midribs. The nest is generally placed in a low exposed fork of a sapling or small tree, 1-3 m above the ground. The female lays 2-3 buff or bluish-green eggs which are incubated by both parents for 12-15 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge about 14 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)

This species has a very restricted breeding range, but it is locally common within that range. The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing destruction and fragmentation of their forest habitats, mostly through excessive gathering of fuelwood, clearance for permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation, fire, urbanisation and logging. The area of closed-canopy forest is Sri Lanka has already declined by 50-60%, and this decline is likely to continue.