Song Thrush

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) is a medium brown thrush with cream or buff underparts covered in neat dark arrowhead-shaped spots. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in forests, parks and gardens across the western Palearctic, searches the ground for worms, snails and insects and eats fruit; many populations migrate toward southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).