Song Thrush

Song Thrushes are resident breeders, and Winter visitors.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Turdus philomelos
Family: 
Thrushes and Chats
Family Latin name: 
TURDIDAE
Category: 
Birds
Vernacular names: 

Mavis, Throstle

Species description

Species description

The Song Thrush is one of our best songsters and has a characteristic habit of repeating phrases.  The sight of them thrashing snails on a stone to break the shell and extract the flesh is not so common nowadays, and their 2016 population of 1.3 million pairs represents a sharp decline, giving them a conservation status of RED.  They are resident breeders, and Winter visitors.  If a large number is seen feeding on hawthorn bushes then tradition suggests we will have a harsh Winter, but this is now a rare sight.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
Song Thrushes are resident breeders, and Winter visitors.
The Song Thrush is one of our best songsters and has a characteristic habit of repeating phrases.

Details

Species family information

Thrushes are predominantly unspecialised, omnivorous, ground foragers. Many are brown, the colour of turds, hence the family name. Most are monogamous, some being highly gregarious in the non-breeding season like our Winter thrushes, the Redwings and Fieldfares. Thrushes are melodious singers, and among the earliest contributors to the dawn chorus.

Category information

The earliest feathered dinosaur fossils date from the early Cretaceous, but the ancestry of birds goes further back to Jurassic theropod dinosaurs, which shared a common ancestor with the crocodilians. Well known theropod groups include the tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, and other carnivores. Of surviving bird groups, the most ancient are the ratites (ostriches, rheas, tinamous, moas, kiwis, cassowaries, and emus), followed in evolutionary order by the waterfowl (ducks, geese and swans) and then the land fowl (chickens, turkeys, pheasants and their kin). Heene cemetery’s most ancient bird visitors are the woodpigeons. Strictly, therefore, we ought to refer to birds as dinosaurs, for they are direct descendants. The RSPB would be more accurately restyled as the RSPD. Where known, the conservation status of each bird is given as red, amber, or green, according to its survival potential based on 2016 populations and recent population trends.

Birds are warm-blooded, and have feathers, toothless, beaked jaws, and a strong, lightweight skeleton. They lay hard-shelled eggs. Their hearts have four chambers, and their metabolic rate is high. Although most are adapted for flight, many can also run, jump, swim and dive. Flightless birds retain vestigial wings. Brown, green, and grey are the commonest bird colours, for camouflage.

Protections

Legal protections and status
IUCN Birds of Conservation Concern: Amber List
Natural Environment & Rural Communities Act 2006 Section 41
Sussex Notable Bird List
UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species