Scientific name: Turdus philomelos Brehm, 1831
Bird group: Thrushes and allies
Field characters. 23 cm. Smaller than Blackbird and much smaller than Mistle Thrush. Upperparts grey-brown, chest yellow with numerous black spots, extending onto flanks, belly white. No supercilium, unlike Redwing. Tail shorter than Blackbird and square ending, without the white tips to outer tail feathers of Mistle Thrush. Underwing orange-yellow (orange-red in Redwing and white in Mistle Thrush). Juvenile like adult, but upperparts with light spots and streaks. Song usually given from very high songpost, like top of tree. Flight slightly undulating. More shy than Blackbird, even where it breeds in towns.
Voice. Call like Redwing, but more abruptly ending, 'tsiek'. Song loud and repetitive.
Distribution. Common.
Habitat. Needs combination of high trees and low bushes, open space on ground and fields or edges of woods. Also, less commonly, in coniferous woodlands.
Food. Chiefly invertebrates. Also fruits in autumn and winter. Forages largely on the ground, sometimes in open field but more commonly close to cover. Catches snails and smashes them against an anvil-stone to break shell.