The island of Hispaniola, shared between two countries, the Dominican Republic to the east and the Republic of Haiti to the west, is considered a reservoir of species in terms of biological diversity, with a very high rate of endemism and the greatest diversity of bird populations in the insular Caribbean. It is home to about 300 species of birds, 31 of which are considered endemic. Among them, the La Selle Trush, Turdus swalesi, is one of the last endemic bird species described in Hispaniola, currently classified as "vulnerable" on the IUCN red list. Its range appears to be restricted to the Massif of La Selle in Haiti, where the type specimen was first collected on 11 April 1927 in a dense patch of cloud forest just below the summit of La Visite mountains , before populations were discovered a few decades later to the east in the Dominican Republic, in the adjacent Sierra de Bahoruco mountains at Pie de Palo and north of the deep Neiba Valley/Cul de Sac Plain, separating the Bahoruco Mountains from the lush forests of the Sierra de Neiba.