Bird Guide

Redwing vs Song Thrush

Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

Redwing

Turdus iliacus

Medium61 gForest

The thrush is 20–24 cm long with a wingspan of 33–34.5 cm and a weight of 50–75 g. The sexes are similar, with plain brown backs and with dark brown spots on the white underparts. The most striking identification features are the red flanks and underwing, and the creamy white stripe above the eye. Adults moult between June and September, which means that some start to replace their flight feathers while still feeding young. Voice: The male has a varied short song, and a whistling flight call. Redwings show a distinct dialectic variation in song, having a considerable similarity in song patterns among birds within a local population. The Redwing song consists of a number of introductory elements of descending or ascending frequency.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Lionel Triboulin · CC0
Photo: Jason Thompson · CC0
Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Song Thrush

Turdus philomelos

Medium68 gForest

The song thrush (as represented by the nominate subspecies T. p. philomelos) is 20 to 23.5 centimetres (7+3⁄4 to 9+1⁄4 inches) in length and weighs 50 to 107 grams (1+3⁄4 to 3+3⁄4 ounces). The sexes are similar, with plain brown backs and neatly black-spotted cream or yellow-buff underparts, becoming paler on the belly. The underwing is warm yellow, the bill is yellowish and the legs and feet are pink. The upperparts of this species become colder in tone from west to east across the breeding range from Sweden to Siberia.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Philippe_Grange · CC0
Photo: Aleksey Shumkov · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Redwing and Song Thrush.