Redwings And Hawthorn Berries – This week I was lucky enough to see a flock of redwings at the Falls of Clyde Nature Reserve. There are less than ten resident breeding pairs in the UK and they can be found in the far north of Scotland. We can only see them when they move here from Iceland and Russia. There is a lot of speculation as to where these red wings come from, but the Icelandic form is intended for black and solid lines. They usually arrive in October and November, and sometimes they’re just on their way to warmer climates.
The redwing’s favorite food is the fruit of the hawthorn tree, and these migratory birds wander far and wide in search of food throughout the winter. They are very sensitive to cold weather and forage in gardens and cities to escape the cold. If the winter is mild, you can see them on the edges of forests and in agricultural fields. Besides eating fruit, you can often see them foraging for insects like blackbirds.
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Redwings And Hawthorn Berries
Redwing identification is not easy as they are not common enough for you to “get your eyes on”. They are slightly smaller than the thrush and the blackbird. They have a short tail, pink legs, a thick white stripe above their eyes, and rusty red spots under their wings. Because they look like stars in flight, if you’re hiking and see overhead stars flying by, take a good look to see if they’re actually redwings! Interestingly, they are nocturnal migrants, often calling when flying overhead.
Redwing, Turdus Iliacus, Single Bird Feeding On Frosty Hawthorn Berries, Midlands, December 2010 Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Image 22573768
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This week I was lucky enough to see a flock of redwings at the Falls of Clyde Nature Reserve. There are less than ten resident breeding pairs…
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Brian Rafferty…wildlife Photographer: Winter Thrushes And A Barn Owl
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Technical storage or access is required to create user profiles for sending advertisements or to track users on a website or across multiple websites for similar marketing purposes. Airedale, West Yorkshire Far from the mighty birds, these visitors from Scandinavia can be quite distressed. the temperature drops
Little pines put on their smart off-season clothes – smoky brown, with black hats with eyebrows – and migrated west to winter with us. The strong current brought the river down from its high reaches. Hawthorn overflows with red winged red berries.
Redwing (turdus Iliacus)
These are not the first redwings we have seen this season: since the beginning of October, they have jumped over the high mountains in threes, fours, fives, and fives. A ranger prowling a nearby meadow acting as a mirror “vismig” (visible migrant) pointed out their peculiarly irregular wings to me.
But these are the first ones I’ve seen up close: close enough to see the clotted cream eye lines and red undersides of these little thrushes. Newcomers from Scandinavia or northeastern Europe will devour the trees and other autumn fruits until the trees are bare. Then they go to the field as a herd.
As they only come to us in winter, for all their delicacy (the redwing is the smallest common thrush in the UK), it’s easy to think that these are hardy birds, not indifferent to cold and snow. However, in reality, redwings can suffer greatly when the temperature drops.
Writers of the early 20th century were well aware of the bird’s dangerous vulnerability to cold. John Henry Salter wrote that “the red-wing starved to death in the spring and was not uncommon in the winter.” a shelter when the frost is severe.’
A Redwing (turdus Iliacus) In Flight With A Red Hawthorn Berry In It’s Beak, Cotswolds Stock Photo
Better, perhaps, to think of the redwing known in the far northern beech wood where it was born. The Newcastle naturalist William Chapman Hewitson visited Norway in 1833 and saw the beauty of the bird in its full breeding season, “perched on the tops of the highest trees, pouring out its wonderful wild note”.
Here, now, the red-wings are quiet, busy feeding without singing, and so far the only wild note comes from the fierce fury that sneezes and sneezes deep in the green-grey trees.