Birdfinding.info ⇒ Mostly limited to wet montane forests at upper elevations. It can usually be found at Zapotén and Los Arroyos around dawn, when a few individuals regularly emerge from the dense undergrowth to feed in the open. Also numerous but not as readily observed at Cachote.
La Selle Thrush
Turdus swalesi
Endemic to Hispaniola, where it is locally common in cloud forests of the Sierra de Bahoruco and Massif de la Selle, and rare and local in the Cordillera Central and Sierra de Neiba.
Identification
Overall appearance is of a blackish American Robin with a white belly. Has an orange bill and thin yellow eyering.
La Selle Thrush. (Los Arroyos, Dominican Republic; May 1, 2015.) © Dax M. Román E.
La Selle Thrush. (Los Arroyos, Dominican Republic; November 29, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
La Selle Thrush. (Zapotén, Dominican Republic; May 12, 2014.) © Paul Noakes
La Selle Thrush. (Dominican Republic; January 3, 2009.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
La Selle Thrush. (Zapotén, Dominican Republic; April 15, 2010.) © Rafy Rodríguez
La Selle Thrush. (Zapotén, Dominican Republic; April 14, 2008.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
La Selle Thrush. (Los Arroyos, Dominican Republic; May 31, 2015.) © Dax M. Román E.
La Selle Thrush. (Los Arroyos, Dominican Republic; May 31, 2015.) © Dax M. Román E.
Notes
Polytypic species consisting of two recognized subspecies: swalesi and dodae.
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered.
References
Alas & Colores: La Selle’s Thrush (Turdus swalesi), https://alasycolores.com.do/en/aves/zorzal-de-la-selle.
BirdLife International. 2012. Turdus swalesi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T22708955A39742267. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T22708955A39742267.en. (Accessed September 18, 2016.)
eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed December 19, 2018.)
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.