Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
Facts & Figures:
Population in 1970: 450,000
Population in 2019: 285,000
Change in Population: -165,000
Percentage change: -63.3%
Length: 27 cm
Oldest: 11 years 4 months
Eggs: 3-5
Broods: 2
Mistle Thrushes gained their name from Aristotle watching them eating Mediterranean red Mistletoe berries, even though in England this is not a species they have been known to particularly feed on. This year we seem to have at least three pairs in the cemetery. This bucks a nationwide trend. In 1970 this was a bird we rarely saw, but now we encounter them more often than Song Thrushes. One was collecting moss, grass and bits of needles from a Yew tree only this morning.
Mistle Thrush - with Yew
The Mistle Thrush is our largest Thrush and like Song Thrushes may be seen on lawns in large gardens or parks and cemeteries. Unlike a Song Thrush which tends to have a horizontal stance, the Mistle Thrush has a more erect, upright posture.
Mistle Thrushes are paler brown than any other thrush, and have been described as grey-brown. A close view reveals that their primaries are edged with white, and when they fly from the ground each corner of the tail has a white edge. Like woodpeckers, Mistle Thrushes have a looping or undulating flight, although it is not quite as exaggerated as a Great Spotted Woodpecker. However, when flying the undersides of the wings can give onlookers an attractive and sometimes striking flash of silver-white.
The spots on a Mistle Thrush are much larger and blotchier than the more discreet and uniform spots on a Song Thrush, and can give them a reptilian look when seen from a distance.
Mistle Thrushes are early breeders, and can be sat on eggs as early as February. Their nests are often built in the fork of a large tree. However, they are also known to nest in rather unusual locations, and there are several examples of them nesting in a traffic light. This must give the chicks some extra heat on a cold winter’s morning. This occurred at least 2 years running in Goole on the old road to Blacktoft Sands, whilst this year one was reported doing the same thing in Leeds (see news item link at the bottom of this post.)
Note white on tail
Mistle Thrushes may occasionally be heard singing in December, but early in the New Year is more typical. They aren’t repetitive in the same way as a Song Thrush, but are more like a Blackbird in tone, but perhaps not quite as mellow sounding. Rather unusually, they have been known to sing into the teeth of a gale, when most other birds take cover. This has earned them the soubriquet of the Storm-Cock.
The song has a strange echoic quality, and they always sound rather distant, so it could be argued that Mistle Thrushes throw their voices rather like a ventriloquist. Percy Edwards used to say they sang “Dorothy, Dorothy”, but you really have to strain to hear them sing those words! They also have a loud rattle of an alarm call, which can sound like an old fashioned wooden football rattle. In winter they are know to guard a laden berry bush with this rattle-call as they chase off any trespassing, Redwing, Fieldfare or Blackbird.
Mistle Thrush - note white edges to primaries and tail
In our area the two broods of Mistle Thrushes can spend the later summer together in a family flock. I have noticed this a few times in the Kiplingcotes area.
In this video made a couple of days ago you may hear a Mistle Thrush really belting out its song in the cemetery early in the morning: herehtt
This video produced by the BTO should help you to differentiate between Mistle and Song Thrushes: here
The RSPB page on the Mistle Thrush, which includes the song is here: here
A news item of a Mistle Thrush nesting on traffic lights is here
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