Yellow-legged Thrush

Sighting
Yellow-legged Thrush Turdus flavipes was seen and photographed in Tobago’s Forest Reserve and was spotted on the Trace Gilpin Trail. This adult male bird was perched on a bare branch very close to the trail where it remained for some time allowing a distant view and a photograph to be taken. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve of 3,958 hectares was proclaimed in 1776 when it was realised that deforestation was seriously impacting the island’s supplies of fresh water. It is thought to be the oldest protected reserve in the western hemisphere (and possibly on earth? / jc).

Species
Yellow-legged Thrush has five subspecies of which T. f. xanthoscela is found on the island of Tobago. The male has a yellow bill and its plumage is usually black with a slate-grey back and lower underparts. However, the hue of the grey areas varies, and the male of P. f. xanthoscelus of Tobago is all-black, resembling the male Eurasian blackbird Turdus merula.

Status and Distribution
Yellow-legged Thrush is a species of least concern which is found on both islands of Trinidad, subspecies T. f. melanopleura and Tobago subspecies T. f. xanthoscela. It has two highly disjunct populations one of which is found in Colombia, Venezuela and northern Brazil as well as Trinidad and Tobago. A second population occurs in eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and far north eastern Argentina. The species has a total range of almost 9 million square kilometres.

References
Wikipedia; BirdLife; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 216.

Photograph
Taken in dark forest conditions at 1/100th second, f5.6 and ISO 1250.