What is the difference between a song thrush and a mistle thrush ?
The mistle thrush is the largest UK resident thrush. It is pale brown in general colour with grey edges to the wing feathers and some whiter feathering around the face which give it an overall pale appearance. The breast is boldly spotted and it has a relatively long tail. On the ground the bird adopts a very upright posture. The flight is very strongly undulated and the under wing and outer tail feathers are white. The Mistle thrush has a very pleasant song which is not dissimilar to that of a blackbird, although less fluting. The alarm note is a loud, harsh rattling call. The song thrush is a smaller, neater bird. The adult is olive or sandy-brown above and the neatly spotted pale underside is tinged yellowish-buff around the breast. The song thrush has a more horizontal posture on the ground and in flight it shows a buff coloured underwing and short uniformly coloured tail. The song thrush has a very loud song usually delivered from the topmost branch of a tree. It comprises numerou
