Abyssinian Ground Thrush

Zoothera piaggiae

Other Names

    Grive de Piaggia   Orangedrossel         Tordo terragnolo d'Abissinia

World: Africa: found in the E and NE highlands from eastern Zaire and NE Tanzania N through Kenya and Uganda to S Ethiopia and Sudan.

Kenya: Occurs between 2000-3300m in forests in western and central regions. Particularly favours Bamboo and is comparatively common in the bamboo zone of Mt Kenya.

This is a solitary, shy, ground feeding bird of dense forest regions. On Mt Kenya it is comparatively easy to see having become less wary of people. The bird pictured above was photogrpahed on Mt Kenya in August 2001 and shows the immature plumage, the white eye-ring and wing bars are clearly visible but the bird hasn't yet lost the juvenile mottling and is just starting to develop the rich orange adult plumage on its underparts.