1,200,000 territories
Family: Thrushes And Allies
The adult song thrush has brown upperparts and pale cream or buff underparts, marked with distinctive dark speckles shaped like upside-down hearts. These speckles are arranged in lines that fade towards the white belly, with a brownish wash on the upper breast.
Its head is brown, with a pale line running from the base of the bill to the eyes, along with buffy patches near the sides of the neck and scapulars. The eyes are dark brown, the bill is black with a yellow lower mandible, and the legs and feet are pale pink. Males and females look alike.
Juveniles resemble adults but have buff or pale orange streaks on the back and wing coverts.
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Song thrushes breed between March and April, producing two or three broods per season. They are monogamous during the breeding season but do not form lifelong pairs. Nests are typically built in dense bushes or trees, with the female constructing the cup-shaped nest on her own.
The nest is made from grass, twigs, and mud, with a hard inner lining composed of dung, decayed wood, and mud, which is cemented with saliva and shaped by the female’s breast.
Song thrushes lay 3–9 bright blue, glossy eggs, which the female incubates alone for 11–15 days. Both parents feed the chicks, which fledge 12–16 days after hatching and reach sexual maturity at one year.
Although rare, song thrushes can be parasitised by the common cuckoo. However, they are generally able to recognise and reject the cuckoo’s eggs.
The song thrush is omnivorous, feeding on a wide range of invertebrates such as worms, caterpillars, slugs, and snails. It eats snails by smashing the shells against a hard surface to access the soft body inside. During winter, it supplements is diet with berries, soft fruits, and occasionally seeds. Song thrushes will often visit gardens in search of food.
They hunt prey by sight, moving in a characteristic run-and-stop pattern along the ground, and will also rummage through leaf litter to uncover hidden prey.
Song thrushes can be found across all of the UK. They can be spotted in woods, parks, hedgerows, and gardens all year round.
Although snails are an important part of the song thrush’s diet, they are usually eaten only when the ground is too dry or frozen for the bird to dig for worms.
