Mistle thrush

The mistle thrush is a bird common to much of Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa. It is a large thrush with pale grey-brown upper parts, a greyish-white chin and throat, and black spots on its pale yellow and off-white under parts. The male has a loud, far-carrying song which is delivered even in wet and windy weather, earning the bird the old name of stormcock.

About Mistle thrush in brief

The mistle thrush is a bird common to much of Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa. It is a large thrush with pale grey-brown upper parts, a greyish-white chin and throat, and black spots on its pale yellow and off-white under parts. The male has a loud, far-carrying song which is delivered even in wet and windy weather, earning the bird the old name of stormcock. There was a range expansion in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and a small decline in recent decades, perhaps due to changes in agricultural practices. The bird’s liking for mistletoe berries is also indicated by its English name, \”mistle\” being an old name for the plant. The nominate subspecies measures 27–28 cm in length, with a 45 cm wingspan. It weighs 93 to 167 g, with an average of around 130 g. It has a stocky upright posture when on the ground. There are no differences between the sexes. Juveniles are similar to adults, but they have paler but paler centres to many of the feathers and smaller spots on the yellowish-buff breast. The eggs are typically of three to five eggs, incubated for 12–15 days, mainly by the female. The chicks fledge about 14–16 days after hatching. There are normally two broods. There is no evidence that the mistle Thrush is of any concern to humans. The species is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of least concern.

It has been described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name, Turdus is the Latin for ‘thrush’ and viscivorus, ‘to devour’. A mitochondrial DNA study identified the thrush’s closest relatives as the similarly plumaged song and Chinese thrushes. These three species are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of TurdUS thrushes after they spread north from Africa. They are less closely related to other European thrush species such as the blackbird which are descended from ancestors that had colonised the Caribbean islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there. At least eight subspecies have been proposed, but the differences between them are mainly clinal, with birds being paler and less densely spotted in the east of the range. The currently accepted subspecies are: T. v. tauricus, but this is not considered to be a valid form. Mistle thrush fossils have been found in Pleistocene deposits from Poland and Sicily. The long round tips on the outer tips of the tail have white feathers, and the eyes are white. The eyes are dark brown and the bill is blackish with a yellowish base to the mandible. The legs and feet are yellow-brown with yellowish mandible, and are yellowish brown with a black base.

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