 The Redwing, a small member of the thrush family, is 2024 cm long. The sexes are similar, with plain brown backs and with dark brown spots on the white underparts. The most striking identification features are the red flanks and underwing, and the creamy white stripe above the eye. The male has a varied short song, and a whistling flight call. It breeds in northern regions of Europe and Asia, from Iceland south to northernmost Scotland, and east through Scandinavia, the Baltic States, northern Poland and Belarus, and through most of Russia. Migrating and wintering birds often form loose flocks of ten to 200 or more birds, often feeding together with Fieldfares, Common Blackbirds, and Starlings. They are to be found in orchards, open fields and hedgerows - usually on the wrong side of the hedge.
|
