Mistle thrush

Turdus viscivorus

Mistle Thrush

The mistle thrush is a large aggressive thrush which likes to dominate trees with berries. I recently observed one chasing all comers from a berry laden tree at the Highland Adventure Safari grounds. The mistle thrush has a rattling alarm call which serves also as a ‘push off’ this is my tree call. Even in flight it will issue its rattling call. The mistle thrush is the largest of the thrushes in the UK. It is slightly larger than the fieldfare and blackbird and noticeably bigger than the song thrush and redwing. They have bolder speckles on their breasts than the song thrush.

Mistle thrushes breed early in the year and they mark their territories with a song that is similar to the blackbird but, frankly, is not quite so tuneful. The bird will sing even in inclement weather and for that reason is sometimes known as the Storm Cock’. It likes to sing from the tops of trees.

The name Mistle Thrush derives from their habit of feeding on mistletoe berries which are sticky and tend to stick to the bird’s beak. If it flies to another tree it is likely to wipe the berry off on a branch where the parasitic mistletoe can then grow. We don’t have mistletoe at Rannoch as it cannot survive this far north (so far - climate change!).

In winter mistle thrushes may form sizable flocks. There may be a few migrants arrive in winter but not very many.

As well as berries mistle thrushes feed on worms and insects. At Rannoch they can often be seen hunting for food in the fields, running a few steps and then stopping to search for movement in the ground.

(26th December 2019)

Photo Creative Commons - credit Tony Wills.