is this a song thrush or mistle thrush? (1 Viewer)

[britannia]

Hello,
I wonder if anyone can tell me whether this is a song thrush or a mistle thrush. This afternoon we had 4 on the lawn. This one seemed to be patrolling round the perimeter
In advance thank-you for your time
Michelle
Links are below
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z237/britannia74/birds1206002.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z237/britannia74/birds1206003.jpg

 

[bitterntwisted]

This is a Song Thrush

 

[britannia]

thank you

Thank-you for your quick response, can I ask how you can tell, have tried looking for obvious signs - rooting through books etc but still find it difficult,

 

[bitterntwisted]

This is a hard one to explain as I learnt it as a very very young child so it's like recognising a friend but not being able to describe them. But here goes.

Mistle Thrush has a pale brown, almost grey, back, and is much colder coloured underneath compared to the warm brown back and warm buff breast of the Song Thrush. Mistle Thrush has a paler, plainer, more open face lacking the defined features of a Song Thrush. Mistle Thrush is a larger bird with a more upright carriage and generally inhabits larger open spaces - playing fields, parks, hore paddocks with large trees - when it flies it gives a rattling call and tends to fly to the treetops. Song Thrushes tend to feed on smaller lawns surrounded by bushier cover and fly away lower with a thinner 'seep' call. Trust me, with practice it'll be easier to ID than to explain!

Graham

EDIT: That should of course read horse paddocks.

 

[britannia]

thank-you

Thank-you once again, i'm relatively new to this and still trying to find my feet.

 

[nickderry]

Graham's got most of the points, and yes, it is like recognising an old friend without being able to describe them. Also, a song thrush has more triangular spotting, whereas on a mistle it's more rounded. If you get a good look at the tail (especially useful in flight) song has a plain brown tail whereas mistle has white corners. Also, the underwings are different (only seen in flight) song has buff armpits, mistle has pure white.

 

[Essex Tern]

All of the above and I would also add the spots are quite a useful ID tool...

Song has almost V shaped spots which are fairly uniform

Whereas Mistle always seems a bit more random in pattern and the spots are rounder


.....beaten too it, but emphasises importance of the spotting

 

[britannia]

thank-you

Thank-you all so much for your replies, this will hopfully help me in future. i'm still refering like mad to my guide book everytime I see something different, hopefully I will get better over time - thanks to people like you

 

[Macswede]

These guys are good at expanations and yes it's a Song Thrush. After I had seen a few Mistle Thrushes during a short period of time the difference suddenly became very clear to me.
Graham

 

[obestevens]

Hi
All the above are good pointers
I wouls also add Song Thrush does the head down scurrying run whislt the Mistle Thrush hops along

Good photos by the way