Abyssinian Ground Thrush - BirdForum Opus

Photo by musse
Mount Kenya, February 2005

Includes: Kivu Ground-Thrush

Geokichla piaggiae

Identification

Deep orange underparts, rufous back, white eyering, black and white wingbars.

Distribution

Central eastern Africa
Western Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania

Taxonomy

Polytypic. Consists of six subspecies.^[1]

• G. p. piaggiae:

• Southeastern South Sudan, Ethiopia, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, eastern Uganda, and northern and western Kenya

• G. p. hadii:

• Southeastern South Sudan (Imatong and Dongotona mountains)

• G. p. ruwenzorii:

• Rwenzori Mountains (DRC/Uganda border)

• G. p. kilimensis:

• Kenya (east of Rift Valley) to northern Tanzania (Mount Kilimanjaro)

• Z. p.e rowei:

• Northern Tanzania (Loliondo and Magaidu forests)

• G. p.e tanganjicae:

• Montane forests of eastern DRC, Rwanda, northern Burundi and southwest Uganda

tanganjicae is sometimes accepted as full species, Kivu Ground-Thrush.
Formerly placed in genus Zoothera.

Habitat

2000-3300m in forests in western and central regions. Prefers areas of Bamboo.

Behaviour

This is a usually solitary, shy, ground feeding bird of the forest .

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Lepage D. (2020) Abyssinian_Ground_Thrush in Avibase - The World Bird Database. Retrieved 6 April 2020

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Abyssinian Ground Thrush. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Abyssinian_Ground_Thrush

External Links

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