Part of our popular nature series by Calvin Jones

 

The song thrush is a familiar thrush species, and one of Ireland’s finest songsters. A key player in the acclaimed “Dawn Chorus”, this attractive speckled thrush is a familiar sight in many Irish gardens, and according to Birdwatch Ireland’s annual Garden Bird Survey features regularly as one of our top 20 garden species.

This is a resident species, and is found all over Ireland throughout the year. In winter, the resident birds are joined by migratory birds from northern Europe. It occurs in woodland, farmland, hedgerows, parks and gardens nationwide.

Song thrushes have a typically thrush-like body shape – similar to that of the closely related blackbird, but a little smaller. Adults song thrushes reach a length of about 23cm (c. 9 inches). Their plumage is a warm brown above, with a creamy underside heavily speckled with dark brown spots and streaks. Sexes in this species are similar, and juvenile birds tend to resemble the adults, but have buff streaking on their backs and smaller spots on their underside.

The song thrush may occasionally be confused with the much more robust and larger mistle thrush, and possibly with the overwintering redwing – a visitor from Scandinavia. However, the song thrush has a much more delicate and diminutive form that rules out its larger Irish cousin, while it lacks the distinctive white eye-stripe and obvious red wing bar of its visiting Scandinavian relative.

The song thrush is a formidable singer, and has a loud, fluting, far-carrying voice. Its familiar song resembles that of the blackbird, but the song thrush has a characteristic tendency to repeat each “phrase” of the song several times before moving on to the next. Typical song phrases include a repeated “cherry dew, cherry dew, cherry dew” and “knee-deep, knee-deep, knee-deep…”. The distress call is an agitated loud rattle or a soft “seep”-like note.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own