Song Thrush
Variety performer, wake-up caller
Is the sound of a song thrush enjoyable? The answer may depend on which particular song thrush you’re listening to - and how close to your bedroom window one’s decided to sing, at dawn.
Song thrushes are powerful, improvisational performers. The variety for which they are famed makes them fascinating to listen to, and can be confusing.
Song notes
The key to identifying them by song is their habit of repeating a note or short phrase several times, before switching to something else and repeating that instead.
It’s as if the bird discovers a new sound, excitedly practices, and then thinks of something new to try.
The volume and the repetition means the song is sometimes mistaken for the much scarcer nightingale.
However, song thrushes are with us all year and sing for much of it, not just April and May. And like blackbirds, they like to sing from a high perch, often the very top of a tall tree.
They can often be heard on a still winter’s day, and become especially persistent in early spring. That’s a good time to get to know them, before their variety show gets mixed up with so many other new sounds in the gathering chorus.
The number of song thrushes has declined steeply in recent decades. They are still to be found in most woodlands, and in many large gardens, parks and wooded countryside areas, but they are nowhere near the everyday sight they once were.
Media credits
Winter scene photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash