British Birds - Thrushes

Its song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles but do you recognise it? Try question 9 to find out

British Birds - Thrushes

Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. They are insectivorous, but most species also eat worms, land snails and fruit. Many species are permanently resident in warm climes, while others migrate to higher latitudes during summer, often over considerable distances.

Which of these options do you prefer?

  1. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Turdus iliacus
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor
    • They roam across the UK's countryside, feeding in fields and hedgerows.
    • Rarely visit gardens, except in the coldest weather when snow covers the fields.
    • Only a few pairs nest in the UK.

  2. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Jimfbleak
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Erithacus rubecula
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species
    • Males and females are identical but youngsters are a speckled brown with no red feathers
    • Fiercely territorial
    • They have an excellent voice and sometimes sing at night to streetlights

  3. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Neil Phillips
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Turdus viscivorus
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species
    • The alarm call is like a football rattle or machine gun.
    • Their dreamy song is loud and far reaching and often heard during stormy weather, hence its alternative name of Stormcock.

  4. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Tom Tarrant (Aviceda)
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Oenanthe oenanthe
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor & Passage Migrant
    • It hops or runs on the ground.
    • It is blue-grey above with black wings and white below with an orange flush to the breast.
    • It has a black cheek.

  5. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Taco Meeuwsen
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Turdus philomelos
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species
    • Easily confused with young and female Blackbirds
    • Does not stand as upright at Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes
    • Has warm brown upper parts and paler underparts with small dark spots

  6. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Amurfalcon
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Saxicola rubicola
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species
    • Birds are frequently seen flicking their wings while perched, often doing so on the tops of low bushes.
    • Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together.
    • The male's song is high and twittering.

  7. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Kosmonaut42
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Turdus pilaris
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Winter Visitor
    • They stand very upright and move forward with purposeful hops.
    • Very social birds, spending the winter in flocks of anything from a dozen or two to several hundred strong.
    • Diet is insects, worms and berries.

  8. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Pete Birkinshaw
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Turdus merula
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Resident Breeding Species
    • Mature males are glossy black but females and young are a lighter reddish-brown
    • Albinism leads to the contradictory terminology of "White Blackbirds" but birds are seldom completely white

  9. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of J Dietrich
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Luscinia megarhynchos
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
    • They frequently sing at night as well as during the day.
    • Early writers assumed the female sang when it is in fact the male.
    • The song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles.

  10. What is the name of this bird?

    Photograph courtesy of Fveronesi1
    • Group: Thrushes
    • Binomial: Phoenicurus phoenicurus
    • Order: Passeriformes
    • Family: Turdidae
    • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
    • They prefer open mature birch and oak woodland with a high horizontal visibility and low amounts of shrub and understorey especially where the trees are old enough to have holes suitable for its nest.
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