Noun. 1.
missel thrush
– large European thrush that feeds on mistletoe berries mistle thrush, mistletoe thrush, Turdus viscivorus. thrush – songbirds characteristically having brownish upper plumage with a spotted breast.
What is the difference between a mistle thrush and a
song thrush
?
The main differences between the two birds are that song thrushes have a rounder appearance and have lighter breasts with markings that look like upside-down hearts or arrowheads. Mistles thrushes appear lighter and almost grey at first glance.
What do a Missel Thrush eat?
What they eat: Worms, slugs, insects and berries.
How common is a mistle thrush?
Status. The mistle thrush has an extensive distribution in Europe and western Asia, and its European breeding population is estimated at 9–22.2 million birds When Asian breeders are added, this gives a global total of 12.2–44.4 million.
Which thrush is the biggest?
- Medium-sized birds, they’re our largest thrush.
- Chunky and pot-bellied.
-
tawny brown
and grey backs with a creamy white speckled front. - Whiteish cheeks.
- Bold and bullish.
How rare is a song thrush?
Status and conservation The song thrush has an extensive range, estimated at 10 million square kilometres (4 million square miles), and a
large population
, with an estimated 40 to 71 million individuals in Europe alone.
Can a blackbird mate with a thrush?
Interbreeding with a thrush, whilst possible, is most unlikely What you’re describing Derek, is just what I’m used to seeing in the crop of youngsters that visit my garden here. They start of looking very brown, like a female, but speckly. Then their primary feathers and tail go black, followed by the back.
Is a blackbird a song thrush?
The song thrush (Turdus philomelos) is closely related to the blackbird , but is slightly smaller and lighter – about 23 centimetres long and 70 grams in weight. Both sexes have a yellow-brown back and wings, and lighter underside with regular rows of tapered brown spots.
Why is a thrush called Mavis?
The name Mavis appears in Chaucer and was used by other Middle English poets. It comes from the French word mauvis and may be of Celtic origin It was used by Shakespeare, as was the word throstle for song thrush, which, in East Anglia, refers to the mistle thrush.
Are thrush birds rare?
The song thrush used to be a very common bird in the UK. In fact, in the early 20th century it was more abundant than the blackbird However, since the 1940s, blackbirds have flourished, making them a more familiar bird these days. Between 1970 and 2010, the UK song thrush population declined by 54 per cent.
What is the largest thrush in the UK?
The largest thrush species in the UK, the mistle thrush measures around 28cm in length. It has greyish-brown upperparts, a long tail and a plump white belly with heavy, dark brown spots.
How do I know if my bird has thrush?
The adult male has glossy black plumage, blackish-brown legs, a yellow eye-ring and an orange-yellow bill. The bill darkens somewhat in winter. The adult female is brown with a dull yellowish-brownish bill, a brownish-white throat and some weak mottling on the breast. The juvenile is similar to the female.
What is the difference between a blackbird and a thrush?
Look at the leg colour; in Blackbird the legs are dark or reddish-brown – in Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush they are pale Redwing is a similar size to a Song Thrush but has a strong head pattern, with a pale cream stripe above the eye.
How long does a thrush sit on her eggs?
Normal clutch size is 3-5, with one egg laid each day. The female starts to incubate once the last egg is laid, and the chicks hatch 13-15 days later. Only the female broods the chicks, but both parents feed them.
What do song thrush eggs look like?
Song thrush eggs are smooth and glossy,31 x 22mm large. They are very pale blue eggs with a few large dark speckles, mostly at the wider end The nests are usually constructed out of mud, with no grass lining.
Is a robin a thrush?
robin, either of two species of thrushes (family Turdidae) distinguished by an orange or dull reddish breast. The American robin (Turdus migratorius), a large North American thrush, is one of the most familiar songbirds in the eastern United States.
How many types of thrush are there in the UK?
There are many thrushes worldwide. Four regularly breed in the UK , and there are two types of winter thrushes that occasionally breed over here. ‘Thrushes’ are generally larger than chats, often spotted underneath, but in some species, males are unspotted and clearly different from females.
What bird makes a trilling UK?
Great tit (Parus major).
What month do thrushes lay eggs?
Song thrushes nest between March and August and lay a clutch of between two and five eggs, which hatch after 13 days. We found nests by searching suitable areas and then checked them daily.
Where do thrush birds live?
The Wood Thrush breeds in deciduous and mixed forests in the eastern U.S. where there are
large trees
, moderate understory, shade, and abundant leaf litter for foraging. They winter in lowland tropical forests in Central America.
Will a blackbird feed a baby thrush?
Just watched and filmed a male blackbird feeding a song thrush in our garden very amusing to watch.
What is the difference between a male and female thrush?
Male Varied Thrushes are dark blue-gray on the back and rich burnt-orange below with a sooty-black breastband and orange line over the eye. The wings are blackish with two orange bars and orange edging to the flight feathers. Females have the same patterns, but are paler gray-brown than males.
Which is the smallest thrush?
The smallest thrush may be the forest rock thrush , at 21 g (0.74 oz) and 14.5 cm (5.7 in). However, the shortwings, which have ambiguous alliances with both thrushes and Old World flycatchers, can be even smaller. The lesser shortwing averages 12 cm (4.7 in).
Where do song thrush go in winter?
Song thrushes are sensitive to hard winter weather. Winter territories are abandoned during periods of severe weather, when many birds move southwards, even as far as north-west France and northern Spain Considerable numbers of Dutch birds spend the winter in the UK.
What do you feed a song with thrush?
The Song Thrush’s diet is largely earthworms and snails , with the latter broken open by the bird smashing the shell against a hard object such a stone. Other food incudes insects and spiders, plus fruit and berries in the colder months.
What does a female song thrush look like?
what do they look like? A Song Thrush can often be identified by its dark brown/orange colour, black beak and brown/pink legs Although similar in appearance to the Mistle Thrush and Redwing, they are actually much smaller than the Mistle Thrush and has smaller, spotted markings along with darker feathers.
Where do blackbirds sleep at night?
They will tend to roost in large flocks in dense foliage in trees and shrubs, or find a cavity in a building, a hole in a tree or a nest box to sleep in.
Do blackbirds return to the same garden?
Do Blackbirds Reuse Their Nests? Blackbirds are known to re-use their own nests a number of times during their current breeding season They are even known to re-use a nest during the following year’s breeding season. Often they will take up residence in a previously used nest by another bird.
Do birds mate with their siblings?
They are often monogamous, but within certain family groups, as many as 32 percent of individuals may mate with birds other than their mates ; in particular, females may mate with family members in exchange for procuring more food for their young. Originally published in the January 2010 issue of BirdScope.
Is thrush native to NZ?
The New Zealand thrush, or Piopio, was an endemic, but now extinct, passerine on New Zealand It was widely distributed on both the North and the South Island, from north of Auckland to Steven Island [1].
What is a black bird with yellow beak called?
At a distance, starlings look black. In summer they are purplish-green iridescent with yellow beaks; in fresh winter plumage they are brown, covered in brilliant white spots.
What bird looks like a small thrush?
Adult. The Ovenbird is a warbler, not a thrush; it’s smaller, with a sharper bill and shorter legs than a Wood Thrush. They have a streaked, not spotted breast, and black stripes on the crown that Wood Thrushes lack.
Is there such a bird as a seagull?
Gulls are members of a large, widespread family of seabirds. Often known as seagulls (though no species is actually called a seagull , and many are found far from the sea), they sometimes get a bad reputation for stealing chips. But gulls are intelligent, adaptable and often beautiful birds.
Where do goldfinches go overnight?
Most birds, including small garden birds, are known to take shelter high up in the trees or in cavities , if the hole is big enough. They might even huddle together in a small place if it’s a particularly cold night.
Why are thrushes in decline UK?
Reasons for the decline The decline in song thrush numbers has probably been caused by the loss and degradation of preferred feeding and nesting habitats.
What kind of bird looks like a robin but bigger?
At first glance, the spotted towhee and American robin look remarkably similar. The average spotted towhee measures between 6.7 to 8.3 inches long and sports an 11-inch wingspan. These measurements come in only slightly behind a robin’s, although robins will weigh around twice as much as a spotted towhee.
References
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/thrushes-chats-flycatchers-starling-dipper-and-wren/mistle-thrush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistle_thrush
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/mistle-thrush/
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/missel-thrush