[348] Turdus philomelos, Song Thrush

[348] Turdus philomelos, Song Thrush

Introduction

Although not now very common, Turdus philomelos, is the most common type of thrush seen in Britain and is often called just a Thrush. Its more formal name is the Song Thrush but the sounds it makes are probably the most unexciting of our singing birds.

I will also look briefly at our other resident and visiting thrushes – apart from [347] the Blackbird, considered yesterday.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Passeriformes

Family – Turdidae

Genus – Turdus

Scientific Name – Turdus philomelos

Name

We saw the words thrush and turdus yesterday. You can see my thoughts about its song below. Throstle is an archaic form of Thrush.

Philomenos refers to the character Philomela in Greek mythology (from Greek philo-melos, loving-song,) who had her tongue cut out and was transformed into a singing bird.

Description

Although both are within the genus Turdus, the Song Thrush and Blackbird are not very close relatives. I would have described the Song Thrush as slightly larger than a Blackbird but they are actually slightly smaller. They have dark brown backs and very light cream underparts with very marked chevron-shaped spots (Like inverted ‘V’ shapes.)

The Song Thrush is omnivorous and may have a favourite stone that it uses as an anvil to break the shells of [172] Snails. They are also known to drop snails on to metalled road surfaces. As well as snails and worms, they may eat soft fruit and berries. They make typical nests in trees or bushes.

This bird has declined in numbers in recent years – due to changes in farming and a reduction of hedgerows; the use of poison bait to control slugs and snails; and the dangers of traffic when smashing snails on roads.

Song

I am not sure that many people would agree with me but I don’t think the sounds that the Song Thrush makes are good enough to be called songs. They may just about qualify as birdsong because it’s a bit more than the basic warning calls that many birds make. I don’t see it as melodious and it’s not as tuneful as a Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock or just about any of our other garden birds. I would describe it as follows.

1. Sing one, two or three notes fairly quickly. They may vary in tone and length.
2. After a gap, repeat exactly the same pattern as 1. above, normally for three repetitions but sometimes two or four.
3. Go back to 1., but make a different random choice, them keep looping.

It may not be exciting but it one of the easiest birds to recognize from its sounds.

There are several references to the song of the Song Thrush in English poetry.

Habitat

The range of the Song Thrush covers most of Europe apart from the extreme east and north. In some areas it is migratory but it is resident over all of England and Wales. It is a summer visitor in Scotland.

It breeds in woods, parks and gardens.

Other Notes

Some of these pictures come from my back garden but from several years ago. More recently, the Song Thrush is becoming very rare in towns. In the last few years, I have heard one more often than I have seen one.

See also

Other species of Turdus seen in the UK.

• Turdus viscivorus, Mistle Thrush. This bird is significantly larger and its spots are round, not chevron-shaped. Its back and neck are grey in parts rather than brown. They may be seen in large parks but are seen much less often in gardens and urban environments than Song Thrushes. It has a habit of standing up straight, somewhat reminiscent of the pose of a mongoose. It tends to eat more fruit and you can read more about it in [360] Mistletoe. Its song, which can include some mimicry of other birds, is much more like the song of a Blackbird than a Song Thrush.

• Turdus torquatus, Ring Ouzel. The male is like a Blackbird with a white half-collar at the front. A rare summer breeding visitor to a few mountainous locations in Wales, Scotland and Northern England. May be seen as a passage migrant on the way.

• Turdus pilaris, Fieldfare. Somewhat like a Mistle Thrush with a more reddish back and bluish-grey head and neck. Only seen in Britain as winter visitors where they form large flocks and may be seen in farmland or at the tops of trees. Very wary of people.

• Turdus iliacus, Redwing. Smaller and rounder than our native thrushes with red-brown under the wings. As for Fieldfare and often forming mixed flocks.

We only have one more bird species to come so I will mention some more small passerine (Passeriformes) birds that have escaped us. There are some fairly rare winter or summer visitors such as Waxwings and Flycatchers. But the main one to escape us is the Wren.

Troglodytes troglodytes, Wren

It’s almost our smallest bird. (There are one or two smaller birds that you will probably never see.)

It’s very common but tends to hide in the undergrowth. You will know what it looks like if you are old enough to remember the farthing coin. (They were withdrawn in 1961.) It’s small and brown. It may fly across your path between trees a few inches above the ground. If you learn to identify birdsongs, the song of the Wren is the easiest to identify, it is one of the loudest and you will hear it often.

[316] Sitta europaea, Nuthatch

[316] Sitta europaea, Nuthatch

Certhia familiaris, Treecreeper

Introduction

Sitta europaea,the Nuthatch, and Certhia familiaris, the Treecreeper, are two species of woodland birds that spend most of their lives in trees. One climbs upwards and one climbs downwards.

All of the species of Sitta are called Nuthatches, and all the species of Certhia are called Treecreepers, so formally, Sitta Europaea is the Eurasian Nuthatch or Wood Nuthatch, and Certhia familiaris is the Eurasian or Common Treecreeper.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Passeriformes

Superfamily – Certhioidea

Family – [A] Sittidae: [B] Certhiidae

Genus – [A] Sitta; [B] Certhia

Scientific Name – [A] Sitta europaea; [B] Certhia familiaris

Following DNA analysis, which comes up many times in these blogs, the superfamily Certhioidea only came into existence a few years ago. It contains just five families:

• Sittidae – See below.
• Certhiidae – See below.
• Wrens, and two other small, fairly obscure small groups.

Names

The name Nuthatch, used since 1350 may be cognate with nut-hatch, or nut-hack, coming from their habit of wedging something like a nut in a crevice in a tree and hacking at it with their bills. They have also been called nuthackers, nutjobbers and nutpeckers in the past.

The Ancient Greek sitte was a bird of some sort, probably the nuthatch; kerthios was a small bird that might have been a treecreeper.

[A] Nuthatch

The Sittidae family only contains the genus Sitta. There are about 35 species, more or less geographically separated, with some uncertainty about superspecies and subspecies.

All are broadly similar in appearance with some variation in size and coloration.

They have developed the ability to crawl down the trunks of tree or to hang underneath branches. They can also climb upwards.

What follows is specific to our local species.

Sitta Europaea is found roughly over temperate Eurasia, including Britain but not Ireland. It has about twenty regional subspecies with minor differences of coloration, but there is disagreement about precise definitions. The subspecies Sitta europaea caesia, within the caesia subspecies group, covers most of western Europe including the UK. (The Latin caesia can mean a blue-grey colour.)

It is described as having blue-grey upperparts and underparts from orange-buff to brick red. It’s basically blue on top and peachy pink underneath. It has a long, thick, horizontal eye-stripe and white chin immediately underneath. The female is very similar to the male with paler underparts. It often holds it head up so that the top of its body is like a straight line from the tip of the tail to the tip of its long powerful bill. Underneath, the pink body is dome shaped.

Their preferred habitat is deciduous woodland and they nest in holes in trees – usually old woodpecker nests.

They mainly eat insects that they find in trees, especially caterpillars and beetles. They will visit rural birdfeeders, where they will collect seeds.

[B] Treecreeper

The family Certhiidae contains just two genera (generally each allocated to its own subfamily.) There are nine species of Certhia called Treecreepers, all looking very similar, and two Spotted Creepers in the genus Salpornis. This may come as a bit of a surprise but the species of Salpornis look very similar to Certhia, but spotted!

They generally climb up trees in a spiral path. You may spot them flying from a tree they have finished to the next tree.

Again, I will concentrate on our local version.

With some overlapping with other similar species, Certhia familiaris, the (Eurasian) Treecreeper, has a range stretching across Eurasia from the UK to Japan. It is almost always resident. It is found throughout Britain, where it is just called a Treecreeper. It is found in woodland and in Britain prefers deciduous woods to conifers.

Its back is a mottled brown that provides excellent camouflage. You are unlikely to find one unless you see it flying briefly between trees. You then have to follow it as it hops along branches and around trunks. They are very difficult to photograph because they never seem to stop moving.

This is taken as the bird climbed up a wall at Slimbridge. This is unusual behaviour. I have seen them several times on trees but this my best picture.

They extract insects and spiders from crevices in the bask as they climb up trees – always flying from the top of its path to the bottom of the next tree.

Other Notes

I tend to think of Nuthatches as much more common than Treecreepers, but perhaps that is because they are more visible. They are larger, more colourful, often recognized from their various calls, and not averse to visiting country bird feeders. Tree creepers camouflage well and are not distracted by birdfeeders.

See also

Certhioidea is a very small superfamily. Apart from Nuthatches, Treecreepers and two very small obscure groups, it just contains the family of Wrens.

Troglodytes troglodytes, the (Eurasian) Wren, is one of the two most common British birds. They are common and widespread and may be found in parks and gardens. They are small, brown and inconspicuous and tend to remain under cover or fly very close to the ground.

You may never have seen a Wren but you have definitely heard one. For one of our smallest birds, they have one of the loudest voices. You may hear them every day without knowing.

Their song is a pattern with several sections including a distinctive trill. Once you learn to recognize it you will hear it everywhere in Europe. The Wren also makes a clicking call that you may hear.