| SONG THRUSH 1.
Main Features
Warm brown upper parts (head, wings, tail, back).
Breast and lower parts buff, with narrow black spots.
Under wing (seen in flight) is light orange.
Juvenile birds are more streaky than the adults.
2. Song
This is one of the easiest ways of recognising the Song Thrush.
The Song can be heard from very early on in the year right through the spring.
The Song Thrush repeats each note or phrase two or three times, before it changes.
Flight call is a very quiet ‘tsip’..
3. Habits
Moves across the ground in short hops and runs, interspersed with pauses, standing
upright.
Often seen in dense ground vegetation e.g. Shrub beds.
Uses hard objects, such as stones, as an ‘anvil’ to crack snail shells open.
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| MISTLE THRUSH
Larger than the Song Thrush, with a very upright stance.
White on outer part of tail visible when in flight.
Distinctly greyer and paler than the Song Thrush on its upper parts.
Spots are heavier and squarer than the Song Thrush’s.
Under-wing is pale white (visible in flight).
Song is like that of a Blackbird (a rich ‘fluty’ song) but is louder, similar
in volume to the Song Thrush.
Its flight and alarm call is a ‘churring’,‘football rattle’ sound.
Often seen on the ground, in the open.
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| BLACKBIRD
Female Blackbirds are sooty brown all over, much darker than the Song Thrush.
Their throats are pale and streaked.
Legs are dark, unlike the Song Thrush’s, which are pale.
Alarm call of the Blackbird is an excited ‘rattle’
Male birds are totally black, with a yellow beak.
Juvenile Blackbirds are a similar colour to the female but more speckled.
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