Turdus libonyana
The Kurrichane Thrush is a shy denizen of open woodlands and dense vegetation fringing river courses, and have adapted to well-planted parks and gardens in our towns and cities. They feed on a wide variety of fruit and invertebrates.
Usually encountered in monogamous, territorial pairs, Kurrichane Thrushes breed from late winter to early autumn. Their cup-shaped nests are placed in the forks of large trees and often lined with mud. Only the female incubates the clutch consisting of 1-4 eggs over a two-week period. While the chicks leave the nest roughly two weeks after hatching they may remain with their parents for up to two months more before becoming independent. Fully grown, Kurrichane Thrushes measure about 22cm and weigh around 63g.
Kurrichane Thrushes occur widely over eastern, central and southern Africa. In this country they are found from Kwazulu-Natal to North West, through Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng. The IUCN considers it as being of least concern.
DeWetsWild 
We are so lucky to have such lovely birds visiting our gardens.
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I wish I could count the Kurrichane Thrush on our garden list – here in Garsfontein only the Karoo Thrush has ventured into suburbia.
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Oh that is interesting. I have just looked up the Karoo Thrush and see how similar it is to the Olive Thrush (so much so it used to be considered a subspecies I gather).
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Indeed, Carol. I suppose the fact that their habitat preferences are so widely different is one of the reasons why the Karoo and Olive are considered seperate species these days. For my money the Kurrichane is probably very closely related to those two as well, just going by its appearance.
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Pragtige foto’s en goeie inligting, dankie Dries!
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Baie gaaf van jou, soos altyd – dankie Dina!
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Lovely – We have a thriving population of Olive thrushes in our KZN garden. Love watching them scurrying around the undergrowth looking for food . They enjoy the cat food, apparently because it is so high in protein I’m told.
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Great to hear that you enjoy your garden visitors so!
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Oulike vaal voëltjie …
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Miskien vaal in kleur, maar in persoonlikheid staan hulle nie terug nie. Dankie vir die kuier, Tina.
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Min voëls het ‘n gebrek aan persoonlikheid!
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Daar het jy gelyk, Tina!
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It must have taken a lot of patience to get so many good shots of the Kurrichane.
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Thank you, Jim- Their patience is a lot more limited than mine!
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While I met the Kurrichane first, I have grown to love the richer colouring of the Olive Thrushes that populate our garden.
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Maybe it’s because I am colourblind, but I often find it very tricky to differentiate the Karoo, Kurrichane and Olive Thrushes when we visit areas where more than one occur. Your mature garden, so beautifully planted with indigenous plant, is the ideal habitat for those Olive Thrushes, Anne!
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That’s a pleasant-looking bird. I though too that it looked similar to a robin and I see I was right. 😊
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The family resemblances run very strong in this case, Janet
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Our American Robin is remarkably similar, check it out. Nice post. 🙂
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Indeed, H.J., they are very closely related (same genus).
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