Songster

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

These days, we're being regularly serenaded by our local Song Thrushes (Turdus philomelos). They start about 4:00 in the morning (if not earlier) and are still singing at 9:30 in the evening. We don't mind much, because it's the sound of summer. The song reminds us a bit of that of North America's Northern Mockingbird; it's quite varied, with each phrase repeated multiple times before the bird switches to another phrase. (To hear the song, click on the link below; I recorded a male singing near the house last month.) The spotty-breasted thrushes often sit high atop a treetop or bush to belt out their song. This is one of the UK's more widespread resident species, found everywhere but the highest peaks in Scotland. That said, it's declining fairly precipitously in both rural and urban environments (a more than 50% drop), so we're happy to have an apparently healthy local population here.

Song Thrushes build mud-lined cup nests and lay 4-5 speckled blue eggs. We haven't found a nest yet, though we think one pair may be raising a brood in one of the laurel bushes at the bottom of the garden. In a good season, a pair may successfully raise as many as three broods! The birds are omnivores, with snails among their favourite meals; that definitely makes them popular with gardeners across the western Palearctic. The birds use stone "anvils" to break open snails' shells – and no, we haven't found an anvil yet, either. The Song Thrush is the smaller of the UK's two spotty-breasted thrushes; its dark spots are shaped like arrowheads rather than being round, like those of the Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus). It's smaller and browner than the Mistle Thrush too. Our birds here are resident, but those elsewhere in northern Europe are primarily migrants. We see an influx of them in the fall and winter, with some staying and others continuing on to Africa. Domestic cats continue to be a major problem for Song Thrushes. Sadly, we've lost at least one to neighbourhood pets prowling in our garden. But their biggest problem is loss of habitat, particularly in areas of intensive farming. They need hedgerows or woodland in which to breed (both ripped out by many farmers) and good supplies of snails and earthworms to eat (both suppressed by the heavy use of pesticides). We're hoping ours continue to find what they need here.

Megan Edwards Crewe · Song Thrush - Norfolk UK