The amazing cryptic plumage and the timidity of the Bassian Thrush makes this bird often difficult to see.
When feeding on the ground, the bird often stops and remains motionless, presumably to watch and listen for invertebrate prey in the forest litter. At these times, the bird can become almost invisible.
The Bassian Thrush is an Australian endemic that occupies damp forests in the south-east of the continent and down the eastern seaboard. ‘Bassian’ refers to the biogeographical zone of Bass Strait as explored by George Bass. An alternative name, White’s Thrush, is a reference to the English naturalist Gilbert White.
Bassian Thrushes appear to be sedentary with perhaps some nomadism in some populations. In their home range, they are not thought to be under threat although their numbers in the wild is not exactly known.
One interesting and unproven aside about the Bassian Thrush is that it farts with a noise that is supposed unsettle the invertebrates in the leaf litter, making their prey more visible.
There are plenty of opportunities to see this bird in our district in places such as Uralla Reserve at Trafalgar, Mt Worth State Park, Nangara Reserve at Jindivick and Bunyip State Park.
Thanks for that enlightening information Peter particularly about the farting. I'll have to listen out for that. I always thought Bassian was a weird name and now I understand it, it sounds much better. I have a pair of Bassian Thrushes in my garden at present, and recently one was near my back window and flew off suddenly straight into the window. Fortunately it hadn't got up much speed to was unharmed. Years ago I found 3 dead Bassian Thrushes over a few months that appeared to have hit the walls of our house and I wondered why that would happen. I took two of them to the Museum in Melbourne for research purposes. At present I hear one doing its mating call when I walk down our back gully in the morning. It's a most beautiful sound, and it took me a long time to match the 'new' call to a Bassian Thrush.
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