Grey shrikethrush

Grey shrike-thrush
Colluricincla harmonica harmonica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pachycephalidae
Genus: Colluricincla
Species: C. harmonica
Binomial name
Colluricincla harmonica
(Latham, 1801)
Subspecies

See text

Synonyms
  • Turdus harmonicus

The grey shrikethrush or grey shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica), formerly commonly known as grey thrush, is one of the best-loved and most distinctive songbirds of Australasia. It is moderately common to common in most parts of Australia, but absent from the driest of the inland deserts. It is also found in New Guinea.

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey shrikethrush was originally described in the genus Turdus. Alternate names include the brown shrike-thrush, buff-bellied shrike-thrush, grey shrike-flycatcher, northern shrike-thrush and south-western shrike-thrush.

Subspecies

Five subspecies are recognized:[2]

  • C. h. brunnea - Gould, 1841: Originally described as a separate species. Found in northern Australia and Melville Island
  • C. h. superciliosa - Masters, 1876: Originally described as a separate species. Found in eastern New Guinea, islands in the Torres Strait and north-eastern Australia
  • C. h. harmonica - (Latham, 1801): Found in eastern Australia
  • C. h. strigata - Swainson, 1838: Originally described as a separate species. Found in Tasmania and the islands in the Bass Strait (Australia)
  • Western shrikethrush (C. h. rufiventris) - Gould, 1841: Originally described as a separate species. Found in western, southern and central Australia

Description

Of medium size (about 24 cm or 9.4 in long) and lacking bright colours, the grey shrikethrush—usually just thrush in casual conversation—has an extraordinary gift for ringing melody, unmatched by any other Australasian species save perhaps the two lyrebirds and its northern relative, the sandstone shrikethrush.

Status

The grey shrikethrush is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Colluricincla harmonica". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2016: e.T22705561A94024586. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22705561A94024586.en. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "IOC World Bird List 6.3". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.3.


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