Not very clever so need a Bird ID

I've only recently taken to bird/nature snapping, since hubby brought me a DA 55-300mm ED lens for Christmas. I'm still finding Id-ing birds difficult. Sorry if this sounds a bit thick but is this a Thrush?

Yes! Gorgeous isn't he?

Clearly you know far more than you are letting on but the RSPB have some help pages should you get stuck:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/

John

hi
its a song thrush
neil

Thanks Neil and John (and for the link) another friend has just suggested it's a Mistle Thrush.

It could well be. They're a little larger than a Song Thrush. Easier to tell apart in real life than from a photograph where assessing scale is tricky. Still.. it's definitely a Thrush!

John

The shape of the spots is the usual way to tell from the front. Song thrush have heart shapes whereas the mistle are more rounded.

Good video on the BTO site;

link

Yep. This is the #1 pointer, arrows (Song) vs. blobs (Mistle), also brown vs greyish, smaller body vs larger body (same head sizes) and to me it always seems the Mistle has rather less markings on the chest with more below than the Song which seems to be more heavily spotted on the chest area.

So yours is a Song Thrush !

Thanks, all you've been very helpful. As I'm a relative beginner to nature photography any tips would be welcome