Song Thrush Turdus philomelos
These small, brown birds has a slightly jerky flight and yellow plumage can be seen the wing. The song if incredibly distinctive, often lasting a few minutes, comprised of loud, rich musical phrases which are repeated.
Conservation status in Norfolk
Declining species – song thrushes have suffered a serious decline in numbers nationally, with more than a 50% reduction since the 1970s.
How to help
Create a woodpile to encourage insect larvae and snails, located near to a thick shrub or hedge to offer protection to song thrushes whilst they feed.
Wildstock
Information on the Song Thrush
How to recognise
Song thrushes are smaller and browner than a mistle thrush, with fewer and smaller spots. In flight they can be distinguished from other similar species by yellow plumage under the wing, sandy-brown back, short tail and rapid, slightly jerky flight.
The song of a song thrush is distinctive, often lasting several minutes. It consists of a loud, rich succession of musical phrases, characteristically repeated two or three times.
Where to see
Woodlands, hedgerows, gardens and farmland. They can often be seen hopping on lawns or pasture tilting their heads, as if listening for something underground to eat.
When to see
Present in Norfolk all year round. During September to November migrant thrushes arrive from Scandinavia, Germany and Russia, some stay in Norfolk whilst others move on to Spain and Portugal.
Did you know?
Song thrushes break the shell of a snail by hitting it against a stone; this is known as an anvil.
Related questions
Where can I see song thrushes in Norfolk?
Song thrushes frequent woodlands, hedgerows, gardens and farmland. They can often be seen hopping on lawns or pasture tilting their heads, as if listening for something underground to eat. Between September and November large numbers of migratory song thrushes arrive along the coast, moving inland to feed on hawthorn berries and blackberries. Some will remain in Norfolk but many will move further south to Spain and Portugal.
How can I help the song thrush?
With a little thought, a garden can become a wildlife haven for song thrushes, offering shelter from the elements, food and a place to build a nest. All you have to do is:
• Avoid using chemicals such as slug pellets in the garden.
• Create a woodpile to encourage insect larvae and snails, near to a thick shrub or hedge to offer protection to song thrushes whilst they feed.
• Avoid cutting hedges during the breeding season, March to August. Hedges such as hawthorn will not yield fruit if cut every year, so where possible leave uncut for several years. Don’t cut the hedge in one go so that some cover is retained until re-growth occurs.
• In severe winters when the ground is hard, leave raisins, currants and apples for the thrushes to feed on.
What is the difference between a song thrush and a mistle thrush ?
The
mistle thrush is the largest UK resident thrush. It is pale brown in general colour with grey edges to the wing feathers and some whiter feathering around the face which give it an overall pale appearance. The breast is boldly spotted and it has a relatively long tail. On the ground the bird adopts a very upright posture. The flight is very strongly undulated and the under wing and outer tail feathers are white. The Mistle thrush has a very pleasant song which is not dissimilar to that of a blackbird, although less fluting. The alarm note is a loud, harsh rattling call.
The
song thrush is a smaller, neater bird. The adult is olive or sandy-brown above and the neatly spotted pale underside is tinged yellowish-buff around the breast. The song thrush has a more horizontal posture on the ground and in flight it shows a buff coloured underwing and short uniformly coloured tail. The song thrush has a very loud song usually delivered from the topmost branch of a tree. It comprises numerous repeated phrases and can be heard from February onwards and throughout the spring.
What are the colourful thrushes I see in the garden in winter ?
These are redwings or fieldfares. Both species are immigrants from Scandinavia and northern Europe arriving in the UK during autumn and departing in early spring. Both species will visit gardens to plunder supplies of holly and hawthorn berries.
The redwing is the smaller of the two and can be distinguished from the more familiar song thrush by being generally darker and slimmer. The redwing is dark russet brown above with a very conspicuous buff coloured eye-stripe. The under parts are whitish, streaked dark brown with a large and conspicuous red coloured flank and under wing – hence its name. The Fieldfare is a larger bird, comparable to our Mistle thrush, and can be distinguished from all other UK thrushes by the combination of blue-grey head and rump and chestnut back and wings. The fieldfare is also quite a noisy bird, particularly in flight, and its harsh ‘chack-chack’ calls will quite often alert you to its presence.