The Redwing (Turdus iliacus) is the northern thrush with rust-red flanks and underwing, often first noticed on autumn evenings and nights as a thin "siih" flight call passing over towns and open fields, and easily told from other thrushes by its broad supercilium. It measures around 20–24 cm with a wingspan of about 33–35 cm and a weight of roughly 55–75 g, making it one of the smaller thrushes and noticeably smaller than the Song Thrush. The upperparts are evenly greyish-brown, the underparts pale with heavy dark streaking, and the surest marks are the broad, creamy-white supercilium and the rust-red patch on the flanks and underwing, very obvious as the bird takes flight — the overall impression is a neat, contrasty thrush with a bold facial pattern.
The Redwing is best known for its flight call, a thin, drawn-out, sharp "siih" heard from migrating flocks on autumn nights, often passing over cities and towns, while the song is a fairly short, melodic strophe usually opening with a few falling, fluting notes and ending in a quiet, wheezy twitter, heard mainly from singing males in spring and early summer on the breeding grounds. It breeds in northern and central Sweden, chiefly in mountain birch woodland and northern coniferous and mixed forest, with a large national population numbering in the several hundred thousand pairs; during migration it passes right across the country, with large flocks seen especially in September–November, and some birds overwinter in southern Sweden in mild years, particularly where berries are plentiful. It nests in birch and mixed woodland, placing its cup-shaped nest low in a tree, in a bush, or occasionally on the ground, with a clutch of usually 5–6 eggs and both parents sharing incubation and feeding duties; the species often breeds in loosely associated groups and can be very vocal in alarm near the nest. In summer the diet is largely earthworms, insects, and other small invertebrates taken from the ground, while berries become increasingly important through autumn and winter, with flocks gathering in rowans and at fallen fruit such as apples in gardens and parks — during irruption winters, large flocks of Redwings can appear together with Fieldfares wherever berries are abundant.
Read about this species in Swedish →