SPECIES: Zoothera lunulata halmaturina — Bassian Thrush
CLASSIFICATION: Vulnerable
It's quite a disaster for remaining Bassian Thrush populations in bushfire affected areas. Predominantly found in the south-east of Australia, dense vegetation on Kangaroo Island was a perfect habitat for this mottley-brown bird enabling it to camouflage and keep safe from the lurches of predators. With the devastation of the bushfire season, much of its habitat has been burnt. How can a bird hide away when what's left is black sticks and twigs? Bushland that was spared is now severely fragmented, making it all the more easy for feral cats to stalk, surround and snatch them up.
The Bassian Thrush has a plumage brown to olive in colour with distinctive black crescent shaped bars on its back, rump and head and a white ring around each eye. Funnily enough, when searching for a worm to eat, a Bassian Thrush will disturb and provoke a worm into moving by farting. That's not quite the bird-like behaviour we were expecting!
The Bassian Thrush is a beneficiary species to FAME's current project commitment to save the Kangaroo Island Dunnart. Find out more and donate at www.fame.org.au.
Photo: Gunjan Pandey - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73...