Song thrush Facts for Kids

The song thrush is a small songbird found across much of Eurasia. People sometimes call it a 'throstle' or 'mavis'. It has brown feathers on its back and creamy white feathers underneath with black spots. This bird is famous for its beautiful, repeated song, which has even inspired poems!

Quick facts for kids Song thrush

Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Turdidae
Genus:	Turdus
Binomial name
*Turdus philomelos*

Breeding range – yellow Winter range – blue Present all year – green

Three eggs in a nest

Adult and chicks in the nest

With a beak full of earthworms.

Grove snails on an 'anvil'

Song thrushes make their homes in forests, gardens, and parks. Many of them fly south for winter, going to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Some song thrushes were also brought to New Zealand and Australia. Even though they are not globally endangered, their numbers have dropped in parts of Europe. This is likely due to changes in how farms operate.

This bird builds a neat, cup-shaped nest. It lines the nest with mud. The thrush lays four or five blue eggs with dark spots. It eats both plants and animals, which means it is an omnivore. A cool fact about the song thrush is that it uses a special stone like an "anvil" to break open snails. Like other passerine birds, it can get parasites. It also needs to watch out for predators like cats and birds of prey.

Life Cycle and Survival
What Song Thrushes Eat
Images for kids
See also

Life Cycle and Survival

The female song thrush builds a tidy, cup-shaped nest. She uses mud and dry grass to line it. Nests are usually found in bushes, trees, or climbing plants. Sometimes, in certain areas, they build nests on the ground.

She lays four or five bright, shiny blue eggs. These eggs have small black or purple spots. It's common for a pair to raise two or three groups of chicks each year. However, in colder northern areas, they might only raise one group.

Most young thrushes survive their first year. Adult thrushes also have a good chance of surviving each year. A song thrush usually lives for about three years. The oldest one ever recorded lived for over 10 years!

Sometimes, cuckoos try to lay their eggs in a thrush's nest. This is called parasitism. But song thrushes are smart! They can often tell the difference and reject the cuckoo's eggs. Even thrushes in New Zealand, where cuckoos don't live, still know how to spot and reject eggs that don't look like their own.

What Song Thrushes Eat

Song thrushes are omnivores, meaning they eat many different things. They especially like invertebrates, which are creatures without backbones. This includes earthworms and snails. They also enjoy soft fruits and berries.

Like their relatives, the blackbirds, thrushes use their eyesight to find food. They often run a bit, then stop, looking for prey on open ground. They also dig through fallen leaves to find tasty treats.

Snails are very important for thrushes, especially when it's dry or cold. During these times, other foods might be hard to find. The thrush has a clever way to eat snails. It finds a favorite stone, called an "anvil." It then smashes the snail against the stone to break its shell. After getting the soft body out, the thrush usually wipes it on the ground before eating it.

Young thrushes learn this skill over time. At first, they might just flick objects around. But soon, they learn to use anvils like tools to get to the snails inside. Baby thrushes in the nest mainly eat animal food. Their parents bring them worms, slugs, snails, and insect larvae.