Turdus abyssinicus
Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Abyssinian thrush (Turdus abyssinicus) is a passerine bird in the family Turdidae. It is also known as the African mountain thrush, or northern olive thrush The species was formerly treated as conspecific with the olive thrush (Turdus olivaceus) but the species were split based on the genetic differences. The ranges do not overlap. The Abyssinian thrush is native to the eastern Afromontane.
The Abyssinian thrush was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus abyssinicus. Gmelin based his description on "Merle brun d'Abissinie" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume work Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.
The Abyssinian thrush was formerly usually considered to be conspecific with the olive thrush (Turdus olivaceus). The species were split based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 that compared mitochondrial DNA sequences.
Six subspecies are recognised: Turdus abyssinicus abyssinicus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 4 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 6 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 7 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 12 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Abyssinian Thrush sighting in Arusha National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 191st most-seen of the 373 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April–June, September–October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Abyssinian Thrush in Arusha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March, July–August and November, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Abyssinian Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Abyssinian Thrush sightings, Arusha National Park ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Aberdare National Park (Kenya, about 70%), Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 60%) and Bale Mountains National Park (Ethiopia, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Abyssinian Thrush that you can see in Arusha National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Common Bulbul (about 70%), Tropical Boubou (about 70%) and Northern Fiscal (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Abyssinian Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Arusha National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
