A typical thrush with a dark gray back and breast, a black head, and a white belly with rufous sides. Also note the orange bill, eye-ring, and legs.

A scarce bird that is endemic to the Taita Hills of southeast Kenya. recent assessments suggest dramatic and rapid decrease in population – which probably ranges between 500 and 1000 individuals, and is restricted to just four forest fragments, two of which support only 2-3 pairs each.

Taita thrushes prefer the understory of remnant scraps of montane forest, where it is shy and retiring. Distinctive within its tiny range. It has a typical thrush song, and its “chk-chk” and thin “tseeep” calls often reveal this understory specialist.

About the painting:

Like 99% of bird watchers and 99.9% of bird painters, I have never laid eyes on this most elusive subject. Very few photos (around a dozen in total) have been taken so I had to combine reference images with the olive thrush, the Taita’s nearest relative in appearance. I wanted to offset its striking plumage and capture its elusiveness by showing it in flight, flitting across a typical Taita Hills rainforest rock face, the whole image accented by typical rainforest leaves, dappled in dew. The cast shadow took a lot of thought and even some 3D modeling and light-casting to get right, but it adds a sense of movement and dimension to the piece.