Passerines 8: Chestnut-backed Thrush

Chestnut-backed Thrush

The last of the passerines currently on show at Bristol Zoo is the Chesnut-backed thrush, Geocichla dohertyi. A native of the Lesser Sunda islands, Lombok, and Timor in Indonesia, it is already extinct on Lombok and is declining, mainly as a result of deforestation and local bird trapping, in the rest of its range. As a result it is classed by the IUCN as Near Threatened, and the wild population is estimated at around 25,000 individuals. The captive population, both in zoos worldwide and in private hands, is probably under 200.

Passerines 7: Red-Billed Leiothrix

Red-billed Leiothrix

Officially with the English name of Red-billed Leiothrix, I still prefer the original name Pekin Robin for Leiothrix lutea. Belonging to the same family (Leiothicidae) as last weeks’ Sumatran Laughingthrush, it is a much smaller bird, about the same size as a European Robin (15cm beak to tail length) and with a very sweet song. As a result, it featured heavily in the cage bird trade for many years, although imports to Europe are now banned under EU rules.

Passerines 6: Sumatran Laughingthrush

Sumatran Laughingthrush

Widespread throughout Asia are a group of medium sized to large passerines, the laughingthrushes, Garrulax spp., with at least 50 species. Despite their name, they are not considered especially close to the true thrushes, Turdus spp., instead being placed currently in a separate family Leiothricidae, generally considered close to the various species of babblers in the Timaliidae.

Passerines 5: Azure-Winged Magpie



Asian Azure-Winged Magpie, Bristol

 The only species of the crow family that Bristol currently has in its collection is a bird with (until recently) a rather mysterious distribution. The Azure-Winged Magpie is know from only two parts of the world, the Iberian peninsula in Europe, and eastern Asia, with no known populations in between. This was so confusing a picture that for a long time it was believed that the birds in Spain and Portugal originated very recently as escaped sailors pets, brought back by Spanish or Portugese navigators to the Far East in the 16th or 17th centuries, but it is now known that they are relicts of a much more widely spread population, which diverged from the Asian birds at least a million years ago. The European birds do look somewhat different, being rather smaller and lacking a white end to the tail, but otherwise look and behave the same as the Asian birds. The Bristol zoo birds are the Asian form, Cyanopica cyana. The European birds have been classed as a separate species, C.cooki, but this is not yet on the official lists.

Passerines 4: White-Rumped Shama

White Rumped Shama, Bristol Zoo (male)

Moving on from starlings, one of the most musical birds in our collection can be seen in the Forest of Birds, where we have a pair of White-Rumped Shama, Copsychus malabaricus. These birds have an extensive range through India and south East Asia, and have been divided into numerous subspecies. In addition, they have been introduced to Hawai’i and Taiwan, where they are considered invasive and a possible threat to native species.