All species › Passerines › Thrushes and allies › Unicolored Thrush
Unicolored Thrush | Turdus haplochrous
Palmaritolijster | Zorzal boliviano | Sabiá-unicolor
The Unicolored Thrush is a uniform olive-brown thrush found only in northern Bolivia, in forest in and around the savannas of Beni and Santa Cruz. It is known from few sites. Genetically it is closest to the Varzea Thrush and belongs to the group around the Spectacled Thrush.
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Voice
Mostly silent in the dry season, except around dawn and at dusk. The song is a series of whistled phrases, similar to that of Hauxwell's Thrush. The call is a mewing note, as in related species.
Recording: GABRIEL LEITE — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
23–24 cm. The head, upperparts, wings and tail are uniform olive-brown. The throat is whitish with dark streaks; the underparts are slightly paler olive-brown, without further markings. The iris is dark, the bill brownish yellow and the legs are brown. The sexes are alike. The juvenile plumage is poorly described.
Confusion species
Creamy-bellied Thrush Turdus amaurochalinus is greyer brown, with a creamy white belly and dark lores. Hauxwell's Thrush Turdus hauxwelli is warmer rufous-brown on the upperparts and flanks. Black-billed Thrush Turdus ignobilis has a dark bill and a white patch below the streaked throat. Rufous-bellied Thrush Turdus rufiventris has an orange-rufous belly.
Habitat
Semi-deciduous forest, fairly open woodland, gallery forest and flooded forest along rivers in the lowlands, at a few hundred metres above sea level. It searches the ground and the lower and middle levels for insects and fruit. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Only in Bolivia, in south-eastern Beni and western Santa Cruz. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search at dawn in the rainy season in gallery forest and forest edges along rivers in south-eastern Beni and north-western Santa Cruz, and listen for the song and the mewing call.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. The population is estimated at 2500 to 10,000 mature individuals and is thought to be declining. The area actually occupied is small, and deforestation for large-scale agriculture in the lowlands of Beni and Santa Cruz has increased sharply since about 2016.
Scientific name
Turdus haplochrous | Todd, 1931
Todd described the species in 1931 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Turdus was introduced in 1758 by Linnaeus. The genus name comes from Latin turdus, 'thrush'. The species name comes from Greek haplous, 'simple', and khroa, 'colour': 'plain-coloured'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Palmarito, Río San Julián, Chiquitos, Bolivia.