• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Turdus olivaceus, T. abyssinicus, T. roehli and T. smithi (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as T. olivaceus following Collar and Stuart (1985) and Collar et al. (1994).

Taxonomic source(s)
Bowie, R.C. K.; Voelker, G.; Fjeldså, J.; Lens, L.; Hackett, S.J.; Crowe, T.M. 2005. Systematics of the Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceous species complex with reference to the taxonomic status of the endangered Taita Thrush T. helleri. Journal of Avian Biology 36: 391-404.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	altitudinal migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	73 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,120,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	-	-
Generation length	3.11 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as generally common and sometimes abundant (del Hoyo et al. 2005). This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 19.7% within its mapped range over the past 10 years (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it is tentatively suspected that this loss of cover may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame.

Trend justification:   .

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent/Irregular Rivers/Streams/Creeks	suitable	resident
Altitude	900 - 3780 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Karoo Thrush Turdus smithi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/karoo-thrush-turdus-smithi on 02/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 02/01/2025.