La Selle thrush
| La Selle thrush | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Turdidae |
| Genus: | Turdus |
| Species: | T. swalesi
|
| Binomial name | |
| Turdus swalesi (Wetmore, 1927)
| |
The La Selle thrush (Turdus swalesi) is a Vulnerable species of bird in the family Turdidae, the thrushes and allies. It is endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.[1][2]
Taxonomy and systematics
The La Selle thrush was originally described by Alexander Wetmore in 1927 as Haplocichla swalesi. Wetmore chose the specific epithet swalesi to commemorate Bradshaw Hall Swales, an honorary curator at the National Museum of Natural History. The species' English name derives from the Chaîne de la Selle where the type specimen was collected.[3]
The La Selle thrush has two subspecies, the nominate T. s. swalesi (Wetmore, 1927) and T. s. dodae (Graves, GR & Olson, 1986).[2]
Description
The La Selle thrush is 26 to 27 cm (10 to 11 in) long and weighs 88 to 110 g (3.1 to 3.9 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly slate-black head with a bright yellow to orange eye-ring and a few white streaks on the ear coverts and throat. Their upperparts, wings, tail, and upper breast are slate-black. Their upper flanks are rusty red, their lower breast and sides rich rufous, and their belly and undertail coverts white. Adults of subspecies T. s. dodae have an olivaceous-brown back but are otherwise like the nominate. Both subspecies have a dark iris, a yellow to orange bill with a dark base, and dark gray to black legs and feet.[4][5]
Distribution and habitat
The La Selle thrush has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found in southeastern Haiti's Chaîne de la Selle and east into the Baoruco Mountain Range in southwestern Dominican Republic. Subspecies T. s. dodae is found only in the Dominican Republic. There it is in the Sierra de Neiba and Cordillera Central.[4][5] The species inhabits the understory of wet montane broadleaf evergreen forest and, at higher elevations, pine forest.[4][5][6] In elevation it mostly ranges between 1,300 and 2,100 m (4,300 and 6,900 ft).[4]
Behavior
Movement
The La Selle thrush is a year-round resident and is believed to be sedentary.[4][6]
Feeding
The La Selle thrush feeds on fruit, insects, and other invertebrates like earthworms. It forages mostly on the ground and sometimes does so in cultivated gardens near the edge of forest.[4]
Breeding
The La Selle thrush's breeding season has not been defined but spans at least from May to July. It builds a bulky cup nest from twigs, grass, and mud covered with moss and placed in an understory shrub. The clutch is two or three eggs that are greenish blue with gray-brown and lavender-gray spots. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known. Both parents are assumed to care for nestlings.[4]
Vocalization
The La Selle thrush's song is a series of "deliberate tu-re-oo and cho-ho-cho calls continued indefinitely", and it also makes "loud wheury-wheury-wheury and gurling notes".[5]
Status
The IUCN originally in 1994 assessed the La Selle thrush as Vulnerable, then in 2000 as Endangered, and since 2018 again as Vulnerable. It has a limited range and its estimated population of between 490 and 7630 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "There has been massive habitat loss in Hispaniola, and remaining patches are severely threatened by ongoing deforestation for agriculture and timber."[1] Overall it is considered locally common in Haiti and rare and local in the Dominican Republic.[5] It is found fairly regularly in the Baoruco Range though the area is threatened by illegal logging. It is found only in remote parts of the Cordillera Central and very small patches in the Sierra de Neiba. In Haiti its principal remaining habitat is in La Visite National Park.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d BirdLife International (2021). "La Selle Thrush Turdus swalesi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021 e.T22708955A179861776. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22708955A179861776.en. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Thrushes". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
- ^ Wetmore, Alexander (1927). "A thrush new to science from Haiti". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 40. Biological Society of Washington: 55–56. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g McFarland, K. P., N. Collar, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). La Selle Thrush (Turdus swalesi), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lasthr1.01 retrieved February 14, 2026
- ^ a b c d e Raffaele, Herbert; Wiley, James; Garrido, Orlando; Keith, Allan; Rafaele, Janice (2003). Birds of the West Indies. Princeton Field Guides. Princeton University Press. pp. Plate 63. ISBN 0-691-11319-X.
- ^ a b Check-list of North American Birds (7th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. p. 512.