Redwing

Turdus iliacus (Linnaeus, 1766)

2014-12-05 Aktau. Mangystau.	© Askar Isabekov

Description

The adult Redwings in breeding plumage are olive-brownish above with dark mottled forehead. The eye-brow is broad pale-white beginning from the bill. There is pale or rusty spot on neck-flank; ear-coverts are brownish. Underparts are white with dark longitudinal streaks on throat-flanks, craw and belly. Throat and mid-belly are white; flanks and axillaries are rusty-brown. Flight feathers and its coverts are dark-brownish with olive-greyish tinge on outer webs. Median coverts are with rufous terminal spots, but greater coverts are with whitish ones. Tail feathers are brownish, central pair with olive tinge. Bill is dark-horn color with yellowish base of low mandible. Legs are pink-yellowish, claws are pink. The autumn plumage is similar on spring but all colors are darker. Juveniles are olive-brownish above with pale-yellow arrow-shaped spots bordered by black. Shoulders feathers are with long shaft streaks. Underparts are white, slightly pale-yellow tinged on breast. The flanks of head, neck and body, the craw and breast have round blackish spots. Juvenile are well distinguished from juveniles of Song Thrush by neat mantle-streaks, blackish spots, and by white eye-brow contrasted with blackish lores and crown-flanks. Size: wing 110-122, tail 75-86, tarsus 27-31, bill 14,5-18,5 mm. Weight: about 60 gr.

Distribution

Redwing breeds in middle current of Ural valley. Recently it appears in headwaters of Bukhtarma river on Southern Altai and in basin of Uba river on Western Altai. There are indications about its accident breeding in 1985 in Naurzum pine forest and in Borovoye. On migration it occurs from Volga-Ural area and Mangyshlak to east up to Semipalatinsk and Ayaguz delta. Once it was observed on Markakol lake at 16 October 1983. In Kurgaldzhin Reserve singles recorded 25 April and 3 May 1969, 19 October and 3 November 1959. One bird was observed at the end of November 2003 in Karkaralinsk. In warm winters singles recorded on Mangyshlak, near Shymkent and Tashkent.

Biology

Redwing is rare breeding migrant. It inhabits the poplar forests with undergrowth and deadfall, or the old willow forests with thick grass; on migration it visits groves, gardens and riparian forests. It appears in April, in southern areas migration finishes in early May. The pairs are formed on breeding areas. Breeds in separate pairs on 70-500 m from each other. Nest is built on ground under grass or dry twigs, or in tree (poplar, willow or elm), in bushes or in the stump up to 4 (usually below 2) meters above the ground. Only female 3-7 days builds nest from dry grass mixed with soil, clay and lined with dry grass with addition of dry leaves, bast and hair. Clutches of 4-7, usually 5-6 eggs is founded from end of April to early July. Only female incubates for 9-12 days. Both parents feed juveniles, which fledge at 12 days old, from end of May to end of July. Some pairs have two broods per season, when flooding is early and low. Repeated breeding after losing of the first nest (out of Hooded Crow and Magpie) is common. In autumn Redwing migrates in small groups or flocks of several dozen birds in September - October, latest birds were recorded in end November.

Subspecies

References

"Птицы Казахстана" том 3. "Наука". Алма-Ата, 1970. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005.