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Mistle Thrush / Song Thrush Hybrids (1 Viewer)

mark clements

New member
I have a large thrush near my home that has the coloration of a song thrush, apart from more rounded spots on its chest, not round but not arrow heads.
It has white outer coloration around its tail at the end.
Its face is similar to Song Thrush, but its noticibly larger than the male blackbird it was next to.
Do these species hybridise?
If so, can anyone point me to photos please?
I will relocate it later in the week with camera in hand...
Thanks
H
 
Got a good look at it today in the sun, its a slightly atypical Mistle thrush with a slightly more yellow breast than normal. It is also probably the largest Mistle thrush I have ever seen, and when it flies in or out of the trees it has a weirdly Kestrel like attitude.
Definitely a Mistle thrush, but an interesting one.
H
 
Song Thrush and Blackbird have been known to hybridise, but I have never heard of Mistle Thrush hybridising with any other species. I think I have read that it is actually the most basal branch of the genus Turdus and therefore probably not genetically close enough to any other thrushes to hybridise. It is also quite a variable species in plumage, with some individuals hard to distinguish from Song Thrush without anything for scale and others much more unmistakably blotchy and "cold" grey-brown in tone.

My feeling is also that in the last few years Mistle Thrushes have become commoner and Song Thrushes scarcer in the UK, though I don't know if there is any reality in that?
 
Thanks, Steve,
The thrush was chasing off blackbirds, so easy to see size difference, and close enough to see the colours etc.
Just a bit aberrant, still trying to get a photo.
Harry
 
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