A report on Song thrush, Mistle thrush and Redwing

A parent feeding chicks in their nest in a New Zealand garden

Male (left) passing earthworms to female on nest

Nests are often constructed on the ground.

The mistle thrush derives its English and scientific names from mistletoe, a favourite food.

A spectrogram showing an example of the song structure of a Redwing in Iceland. Terminology is applied.

Juvenile in a forest near Dombaih, Russia (Caucasus Mountains)

A castor bean tick swollen with the blood of its host

Mistle Thrush and Alpine Chough by Giovanni da Udine

Broken shells of grove snails on an 'anvil'

The redwing (Turdus iliacus) is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.

- Redwing

Although two European thrushes, the song thrush and mistle thrush, are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa, the redwing is descended from ancestors that had colonised the Caribbean islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there.

- Redwing

A molecular study indicated that the song thrush's closest relatives are the similarly plumaged mistle thrush (T. viscivorus) and Chinese thrush (T. mupinensis); these three species are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa.

- Song thrush

A mitochondrial DNA study identified the mistle thrush's closest relatives as the similarly plumaged song and Chinese thrushes; these three species are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa.

- Mistle thrush

The most similar European thrush species is the redwing (T. iliacus), but that bird has a strong white supercilium, red flanks, and shows a red underwing in flight.

- Song thrush

It forages within its breeding habitat and in open fields, sometimes sharing these feeding areas with redwings or fieldfares.

- Mistle thrush

1 related topic with Alpha

Fieldfare

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Member of the thrush family Turdidae.

Berries form an important part of the winter diet

Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany

Migrating birds and wintering birds often form large flocks, often in the company of redwings.

Although two European thrushes, the song thrush and mistle thrush, are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa, the fieldfare is descended from ancestors that had colonised the Caribbean islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there.