This Mistle Thrush was to hear in the same area four springs long, from 2008 until 2011. Often changing his position on the top of high trees he sang long sequences only with the düdüdü-motive, very loudly. Then disappeared. But since then the Mistle Thrushes in this forest uses to sing from time to time those düdüdü-phrases between their art typical phrases. Habitat: mixed forest with a lot of conifers. H.F.Filter

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Mistle Thrush singing long sequences of the düdüdü motive

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Mono recording, bass frequencies filtered out

Single bird

A frustratingly short clip of Mistle Thrush. I find that Mistle Thrushes (in Northern Ireland anyway) are wary of being approached while singing - unlike Song Thrush and Blackbird. Most sing from high up in tall trees - so it is not possible for me (by holding a small recorder with no directional microphone or dish) to get a recording with much volume. Accordingly, I was pleased to be able to sneak up on the bird in the clip. It sang for over five minutes in low trees. Alas, by the time I reached the spot, wind started to pick up and it snowed - so the bird flew off. It shared the airwaves with a 'weep-ing' Chaffinch (such as at 0:03, 0:06, 0:08 and so on) and a Blackcap can be heard briefly at 0:09. A 'mystery note' occurs at 0:20 that may be from a Song Thrush, a Starling - or the Mistle Thrush. However, the strange note is answered with an identical note - making me think that this is not from the Mistle Thrush as I only noticed one bird. The same strange note can be heard again at 0:46.

Mistle Thrush has a wistful, melancholic voice that, even when close, always seems 'far away'. I find that after listening to a singer for more than a few minutes, the effect is soporific. The sound, desolate yet melodic, becomes like a metronome and acquires a hypnotic feel. Most phrases tail off after a meaningful start. Each seems to have the pattern of a sigh - a sound that, once begun, is already dying. After an energetic opening, individual phrases do one of three things: gently rise or fall in pitch, or stay in roughly the same pitch. There is no 'ostentation' in the bird's delivery - in the way that there is in Blackbird (with its habit of rising the pitch of a few terminal notes into a squeaky crescendo).

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Audio processed by normalization (-3dB) and high-pass filter (300Hz, 6dB)

this Mistle Thrush (probably the same as in XC349573) experiments with an echo-motive and düdüdü-motives

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Singing contest with a Blackbird!