The song thrush is closely related to the blackbird, which is slightly bigger and heavier. Both male and female have mid-brown wings and back, with a lighter coloured body with flecked with brown spots.
They have a pleasant song consisting of repeating chirps and twitters.
Both blackbird and thrush were introduced to make the pakeha settlers feel more at home in this untamed land. This attitude changed when farmers discovered that the birds damaged the fruit in their orchards.
Thrushes have a special talent. They discovered that inside a snail shell lives a delicious juicy creature and they have found a way to break the shell using a rock or hard surface. They hit the shell until it breaks and they can reach the meal inside. Native land snail and sea snails are on their menu as are other invertebrates and fruit.
Song thrush websites
- NZ Birds Online song thrush page
- The Encyclopedia of New Zealand blackbird and thrush page
- Wildscreen Arkive song thrush page
- Oiseaux-birds song thrush page
A Magpie Collection 