Musical Thrushes

The mistle thrushes started singing in early February. This has been a good year for their songs. Like all the thrush family the phrases are well spaced, carry over distance and are easy to listen to, enabling identification of individuals. Mistles are genuinely eloquent but have a pale slightly nervy tone to the voice which takes a bit of getting used to. It's as if they need some relaxation therapy. Another way of thinking about it is that the song has a quality not unlike that of the robin - a vocalist many people consider as favouring a minor mode. The pure vocal quality of mistles suffers in comparison with the blackbird whose delivery has the professional ease of those who've had voice training at an early age: the 'cool', laid-back effect so prized in modern culture of not appearing to have to try. But blackbirds have only just begun to sing on the higher parts of Blacka. Competition for the mistle has recently been more from his speckly cousin, the song thrush. This bird leaves nothing to chance. He sings loud and clear and just in case you may still not have heard he repeats at least once sometimes three times. He's also an avid observer of other birds' calls plagiarising any good ideas for his own use. Hear the curlew imitation at the end of this clip.