Posted by David Sewell on January 18, 2010 at 3:32 PM
I like to pride myself that my bird ID is reasonably good, and certainly I expect to be able to distinguish between a mistle thrush and a song thrush - basically one is brown, whilst the other is bigger and has roundish rather than arrow-head shaped spots.
When I found this bird yesterday I immediately identified it is as a song thrush on the basis that it was brown. However, as I look at the shape of the visible spots, and the pale areas on the cheeks, I am beginning to wonder if I have a mistle thrush that I just happened to catch in very warm light. JPEGs from the shoot are basically brown, whilst RAW conversion gives a greyer impression on conversion. This one is from a JPEG, as it is closer to what I remember seeing colour-wise.
I hate to ask for ID help, but I am genuinely puzzled.
David
Nikon D200, 600mm Nikon, 160 iso, 1/1000th @f5.6
Many thanks to John and Fran for their help.
Posted by John Robinson on January 18, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Hi David
The birds "jizz" says Mistle Thrush all over.
Good one.
JohnR
Posted by Fran French on January 18, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Have to agree with John, and a very nice Mistle Thrush it is too! Looks great against that very rare blue sky lol. Nice work David.
Fran
Posted by David Sewell on January 18, 2010 at 3:56 PM
Thanks guys, I can sleep easier now, I'll just change the title first!
David
Posted by Matt Cole on January 19, 2010 at 4:14 AM
A very nice Mistle Thrush shot it is too David, the sky sets it off very well.
Matt
Posted by Kim Connolly on January 19, 2010 at 5:10 AM
A lovely composition, excellent detail, nice sky background too.
Posted by Karen Summers on January 19, 2010 at 5:56 AM
very nice image against that lovely blue sky
Posted by Mike Smith on January 19, 2010 at 6:33 AM
Mistle thrush - they are cold grey toned brown especially around the head where as Song are rich chestnut brown all over
Posted by Mike Andrews on January 19, 2010 at 9:32 AM
If I had taken this I would have said song thrush. I always thought that mistle thrushes had the speckles in lines rather than scattered, but then we don't seem to get many mistles down my way.
Lovely shot by the way. It seems I was not the only one to dash out at the first sign of the sun yesterday.
Posted by Craig Jones on January 19, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Discussion
14 repliesWhen I found this bird yesterday I immediately identified it is as a song thrush on the basis that it was brown. However, as I look at the shape of the visible spots, and the pale areas on the cheeks, I am beginning to wonder if I have a mistle thrush that I just happened to catch in very warm light. JPEGs from the shoot are basically brown, whilst RAW conversion gives a greyer impression on conversion. This one is from a JPEG, as it is closer to what I remember seeing colour-wise.
I hate to ask for ID help, but I am genuinely puzzled.
David
Nikon D200, 600mm Nikon, 160 iso, 1/1000th @f5.6
Many thanks to John and Fran for their help.
The birds "jizz" says Mistle Thrush all over.
Good one.
JohnR
Fran
David
Matt
Lovely shot by the way. It seems I was not the only one to dash out at the first sign of the sun yesterday.
Lovely capure with nice light and detail.