Mistle thrush by Peter Mallett 1/10
Mistle thrush chick by Ray Jones 2/10
Mistle thrush by Elizabeth Dack 3/10
Mistle thrush by Paul Taylor 4/10
Mistle thrush by Elizabeth Dack 5/10
Mistle thrush by Mike Dawson 6/10
Mistle thrush by Elizabeth Dack 7/10
Mistle thrush by Ray Jones 8/10
Mistle thrush by Elizabeth Dack 9/10
Mistle thrush by Nick Appleton 10/10

Mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus

The mistle thrush can be confused with the common song thrush, but is in fact slightly larger. It has a slightly greyer plumage and pale spots on its belly – as opposed to the characteristic streaks of the song thrush.

Conservation status

The mistle thrush is on the 'amber list' of British birds, due to an overall population decline of more than a quarter in recent years, although in the 19th century this species spread dramatically northwards (reflected in a continuing increase in Scotland). Mistle thrushes are scarce in Broadland and the fens, and in mid-Norfolk. Winter survival seems to be a problem, soil invertebrates are very important to all the ground-feeding thrushes in winter and 'improved' grassland and intensive arable fields support very few, the birds have to rely on fruit which is less nutritious and vulnerable to insensitive hedgerow management.

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Details

Did you know?

A bird singing loudly from the very top of a tall tree is likely to be a mistle thrush, especially in bad weather - an old name for this bird is Stormcock.

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