Christmas island thrush
species of bird
The Christmas island thrush (Turdus erythropleurus) is a species of passerine in the family Turdidae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. It was formerly considered a subspecies of island thrush, but was classified as its own species in 2024 by the IOC and Clements checklist.
Description
The Christmas island thrush has a mainly dark grey-brown head, paler grey-brown throat and upper breast, with olive-brown upperparts. The flanks, lower breast and sides of belly are orange, with a white belly and vent. It is about 21 cm in length, with a wingspan of 34 cm and a weight of 55 g. Its bill, orbital ring and legs are yellow-orange. Males and females are similar in size and appearance.
Distribution and habitat
The species is now limited to Christmas Island. Between 1885 and 1900 it was introduced to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, where it was plentiful for many years on three islands of the main atoll as well as on North Keeling.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Christmas island thrush” as species of bird. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of bird. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q41025760. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1885 and 1900.
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This entry incorporates text from “Christmas island thrush” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.