The Taiwan Island Thrush (Turdus poliocephalus niveiceps) is a bird in the thrush

True thrush

The true thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Turdus of the thrush family Turdidae.The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Several species have also colonised some oceanic islands, and...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

. It is the most northerly subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Island Thrush

Island Thrush

The Island Thrush is a common forest bird in the thrush family. Almost 50 subspecies have been described, ranging from Taiwan, through South East Asia and Melanesia, to Samoa, exhibiting great differences in plumage...

 (Turdus poliocephalus) and is endemic to the island of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

Taxonomy

As the most sexually dimorphic

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 of all Island Thrush subspecies, it is a good candidate for reclassification as a full species.

Description

The male Taiwan Island Thrush has black upperparts except for a white head and throat. The underparts are mainly dark orange with a blackish upper breast. The female has similar patterning but is duller, with a brown back, grayish brown head with a white streak behind the eye, buff throat and upper breast streaked brown, and with duller orange underparts. Its bill, legs and feet are yellow. Males and females are similar in size, about 22 cm in length.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies is a rare resident of central Taiwan’s mountain forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s at altitudes of 1800–2500 m.

Feeding

The Taiwan Island Thrush forages through trees, low vegetation, and on the ground in leaf litter. Its diet includes a variety of invertebrates as well as seeds, berries and fruit.