Classification
Order — Passeriformes.
Family — Turdidae.
Genus — Turdus.
Species — Turdus philomelos.
Habitat
The song thrush breeds in most of Europe (although not in the greater part of Iberia, lowland Italy or southern Greece), and across the Ukraine and Russia almost to Lake Baikal. Birds from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia winter around the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East, but only some of the birds in the milder west of the breeding range leave their breeding areas.
Found in parks, small woodlands, hedgerows, and gardens. They require trees and bushes with areas of open grassland and moist soil with a plentiful supply of invertebrate food.
Outward appearance
Length: 23 cm (9").
Wingspan: 33-36 cm (13-14").
Weight: 70-90 g (2½-3¼ oz).
Upper parts are warm brown.
Underparts are pale buff with dark speckles (which look like arrows pointing towards the head and are often arranged in lines) and a tinge of golden brown on the breast.
Belly is almost white with fewer, smaller dark spots than the Mistle Thrush.
Eyes are relatively large, as do Robins and other woodland ground feeding birds.
Legs are pale pink.
Bill is brown.
Feeding
The Song Thrush's diet includes worms, insects, berries and snails.
The latest research suggests that they eat snails only when the ground has become baked or frozen and they cannot dig out worms, etc. They smash the snail's shell against an anvil (usually a rock). Blackbirds often steal the snail after the Song Thrush has cracked it open.
Song Thrushes often feed under or close to cover, unlike Mistle Thrushes that often feed out in the open.
Features
The Song Thrush's song may be repetitive - repeating the same phrase three or four times, as if it liked it the first time and so does it a few more times - but it is clear and flute-like, and is often chosen by people as being their favourite bird song.
They usually sing from a prominent perch.
Breeding
Song thrushes are territorial and nest as solitary, monogamous pairs, breeding from August to February, peaking in September – November in most localities. They nest in the forks of shrubs or trees several metres above the ground and usually well concealed by foliage. The nest is a tightly woven bowl of grass, small twigs, lichen, wool, dead leaves and lightly lined with mud. Two, three or more clutches of 3-4 (sometimes 5-6) eggs may be laid during a season especially if an earlier clutch is lost. The eggs are light blue-green or pale blue with tiny dark spots at the larger end. Incubation is mostly by the female and takes 12-13 days. Young are blind and naked when hatched and open their eyes after 5-6 days. They are well-feathered 12 days after hatching, and fledge at 12-14 days. Both sexes share feeding, including of fledglings.
Diseases
Salmonella, Trichomoniasis, Aspergillosis, Avian pox, Mites and Lice, Lyme Disease.
