Order) Passeriformes
Family) Turdidae
Species) Native Bird
Conservation Status) Introduced and Naturalised
Length) 21 -23 cm
Weight) 70 g
Threats) Cats, Stoats, Rats
Identification
The thrush is a medium-sized songbird with a speckled brown-on-cream breast, usually heard before it is seen, found in grass reserves, gardens and trees on Waiheke.
The song thrush is smaller than a blackbird and is distinguished from the female blackbird by its pale cream underparts speckled with fawn-brown chevrons. The head, back and upper wings and tail are smooth grey-brown with indistinct streaking on the head. In flight the upper wing is mostly uniform brown. The sexes are alike; juveniles have similar colouring but the speckling on the breast is less distinct.
It is often heard before it is seen, as it is one of the main songsters of suburban New Zealand, with a very long singing season. Thrushes sing from a high branch, at the top of a tree or on power poles and lines.
Their distinctive song comprising a wide range of notes, with each phrase typically repeated 2-3 times in succession. These notes are mainly heard from May to November, but calling can occur throughout the year. Calling can commence before sunrise. Singing is thought to be by males advertising territorial ownership.
Although they eat snails and slugs, song thrushes can damage ripening fruit and spread the seeds of weedy plants. They have no recognised impacts on native bird species.
Breeding
Song thrushes are territorial and nest as solitary, monogamous pairs, breeding from August to February, peaking in September – November in most localities.
They nest in the forks of shrubs or trees several metres above the ground and usually well concealed by foliage. The nest is a tightly woven bowl of grass, small twigs, lichen, wool, dead leaves and lightly lined with mud.
Two, three or more clutches of 3-4 (sometimes 5-6) eggs may be laid during a season especially if an earlier clutch is lost. The eggs are light blue-green or pale blue with tiny dark spots at the larger end. Incubation is mostly by the female and takes 12-13 days. Young are blind and naked when hatched and open their eyes after 5-6 days. They are well-feathered 12 days after hatching, and fledge at 12-14 days.
Both sexes share feeding, including of fledglings. A song thrush has been observed to have laid its eggs in the nest of a blackbird (an example of brood parasitism) but the two song thrush young that hatched out were ejected from the nest, which was subsequently deserted.
Food
Song thrushes mainly eat earthworms, various insects, spiders, snails and slugs found on lawns, under trees, hedges, forests or in woodlands. They also eat the small berries of some shrubs such as coprosma, and can eat ripening fruit in orchards.
Like blackbirds, they tend to ‘listen’ for food, e.g. earthworms, beneath the ground surface. They are well known to break the shell of snails to get at the soft animal, by smashing the shell on a stone or path with a quick flick of the head.
Waiheke Locations
Abundantly found all over Waiheke
Thrush’s are flying birds so they can really be anywhere on Waiheke but not just Waiheke they are all over New Zealand, these are just areas I’ve spotted them and photographed.
Gallery
