Redwing

The Redwing is the smallest of Europe's common thrushes, a neat, dark brown bird that punches well above its size in character. Two field marks give it away instantly: a rusty orange-red patch on the flanks that extends under the wing, and a bold creamy-white eyebrow that lends the face a sharp, striped look no other European thrush shares. It breeds in the birch woods, taiga and willow scrub of the far north, from Iceland and Scandinavia east across the Russian forest belt, then pours south and west each autumn in one of the great small-bird migrations of the region.

For millions of people in Britain, Ireland, France and central Europe, Redwings are the sound of the turning year. They migrate largely at night, and on calm, clear October evenings their thin, high seeeh calls drift down out of the darkness as flocks pass overhead, often over city centers, unseen but unmistakable. By day they gather in sociable, restless flocks, frequently mixed with the larger Fieldfare, working hedgerows, orchards and berry-laden gardens. Hard frost or snow can push thousands into towns almost overnight, making the Redwing one of winter's most rewarding birds to watch for.

Look for a compact, short-tailed thrush, noticeably smaller and darker than a Song Thrush, with heavily streaked white underparts and a strongly patterned face. The two clinchers are the long creamy eyebrow stripe and the rusty red on the flanks, which flashes under the wing when the bird flies. In mixed winter flocks the Redwing is the small, dark, fast-moving one; the grey-headed, chuckling giant beside it is usually a Fieldfare.

Male vs. female

Male and female Redwings look essentially identical, and even in the hand the sexes are difficult to separate. Both share the same brown upperparts, streaked underparts, striped face and red flanks, and both are the same size. In the breeding season behavior is the better clue: it is the male that sings from birch tops and prominent perches, while the female does most of the nest building and all of the incubation. For practical field birding, treat any Redwing you see as simply a Redwing rather than trying to sex it.

Juveniles

Juvenile Redwings, seen mainly on the northern breeding grounds in summer, look like scruffy, washed-out versions of the adult. They show pale buff spots and streaks on the upperparts, a fainter version of the eyebrow stripe, and duller, less clean red on the flanks. By the time birds reach their wintering grounds most have molted into adult-like plumage, though first-winter birds often retain pale tips to some wing feathers. In practice, virtually every Redwing seen in western Europe in winter looks like a standard adult, so age is rarely an identification concern.

The song, heard mostly on the northern breeding grounds and sometimes from flocks in spring before departure, is a short, fluty phrase of three to five descending whistled notes followed by a low, scratchy, subdued twittering. It is simpler and less musical than a Song Thrush's repeated phrases. Curiously, Redwing song varies strongly from place to place, and males in neighboring valleys can sing recognizably different local dialects.

Far more familiar to most listeners is the flight call: a thin, high, slightly hoarse seeeh, drawn out and penetrating, given constantly by migrating birds. On still nights in October and November this call is one of the classic sounds of nocturnal migration over Britain and continental Europe, audible even over towns. Feeding flocks also give harder chup and chattering notes, and a rattling alarm when flushed from a berry bush.

Redwings breed across the boreal zone of Europe and Asia, from Iceland and the Faroes through Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states, then east across the vast Russian taiga toward eastern Siberia. Typical breeding habitat is open birch woodland, mixed conifer forest edge, willow scrub along rivers, and in Iceland and parts of Fennoscandia even gardens and town parks. A very small, sporadic breeding population has occasionally nested in northern Scotland.

The species is a medium- to long-distance migrant. From late September, birds withdraw south and west to winter across Britain and Ireland, France, Iberia, Italy, the Balkans, north Africa, Turkey and the Middle East, with eastern populations reaching as far as Iran. On the wintering grounds Redwings favor farmland with berry-rich hedges, orchards, open woodland, parks and gardens. Flocks are highly nomadic, tracking the local berry crop and shifting rapidly in response to hard weather, so numbers in any one place can swing dramatically through the season.

The Redwing has a strongly seasonal, two-part diet. During the northern breeding season it feeds mainly on the ground, taking earthworms, beetles, insect larvae, spiders, snails and other invertebrates gleaned from the woodland floor and damp clearings. Adults carry beakfuls of this protein-rich food to the nestlings.

In autumn and winter the diet swings heavily to fruit. Redwings gorge on the berries of hawthorn, rowan, holly, yew, ivy, cotoneaster and wild rose, and they will strip fallen apples in orchards and gardens. Fruit is a dominant winter food, but the birds still hunt worms and grubs on short grass, playing fields and pasture whenever the ground stays soft. When snow or hard frost locks the ground and the berry crop runs out, Redwings become restless and mobile, one of the first thrushes to appear in gardens during cold snaps.

Redwings nest in the short, intense northern summer, in birch and conifer woodland, willow scrub and, in Iceland and Fennoscandia, gardens and settlements. The female builds a solid cup of grass, twigs and fine roots, reinforced with a layer of mud and lined with softer grasses, and places it low, in a bush, against a tree trunk, on a bank, or sometimes on the ground.

She typically lays four to six eggs, pale blue-green with fine reddish speckling, and does most of the incubation, which lasts roughly two weeks. The young hatch naked and helpless and fledge about two weeks later, fed on invertebrates by both parents. In good conditions a pair may raise two broods before the brief northern summer ends and the long migration south begins. Redwings often nest in loose groups and will mob predators such as crows and skuas vigorously and collectively.

You will not lure a Redwing to a seed feeder, but with a berry-friendly garden and a little timing you can bring winter flocks close, and knowing where and when to look makes them easy to find across much of Europe.

• Watch from mid-October to March, when Redwings desert the far north and spread across Britain, Ireland and lowland Europe; the biggest arrivals often follow the first cold snaps.
• Plant or protect berrying trees and shrubs such as hawthorn, rowan, holly, cotoneaster and crab apple; a fruit-laden tree can pull in a whole flock for days.
• Leave windfall apples on the lawn or orchard floor in hard weather, Redwings and Fieldfares readily feed on them together.
• Search farmland hedgerows, playing fields and open pasture, where flocks probe short grass for worms alongside Fieldfares and Song Thrushes.
• On calm autumn nights, step outside and listen upward for the thin seeeh flight calls of migrating birds passing overhead, even over towns and cities.
• For breeding birds, visit northern birch and taiga forest in Scandinavia, Finland or Iceland from May to July, where singing males perch on treetops.

• Song Thrush: Similar streaked underparts but larger, plainer warm brown, and lacking the red flanks and bold creamy eyebrow of a Redwing
• Fieldfare: Larger winter thrush that often flocks with Redwings, with a blue-grey head and rump, chestnut back and a loud chacking call
• Mistle Thrush: Bigger, greyer and more upright, with bold rounded breast spots, white underwings and no rusty flanks