The Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) is one of Scandinavia's most melodious singers, common across nearly all of Sweden except the treeless high mountains. It measures 20–24 cm in length, has a wingspan of 33–36 cm and weighs 65–90 grams. The upperparts are plain brown, while the underside is white with a pearl-shaped pattern of black spots across the breast and a rust-brown wash under the wing. In flight or at rest, this warm brown-and-cream combination separates it from Sweden's other common thrushes.
Its song is one of the most celebrated in Sweden: a clear, rich outpouring in which each musical phrase is repeated two to four times before the bird moves on to the next, a rhythm shared by no other native songbird. Song Thrushes arrive from their wintering grounds in Western Europe and the Mediterranean in late March and April, settling into deciduous and mixed woodland with dense undergrowth, parks and cemeteries, where the Swedish population is estimated at 1.5–2.5 million pairs. They are well known as "snail smashers," picking up snails and battering them against a favourite stone until the shell cracks, and they also take earthworms and insects through summer before switching to berries in autumn. Nests are built in a bush or tree, often a spruce, some two to four metres up, and are distinctive for being lined on the inside with a smooth coat of mud rather than moss. The female lays four or five eggs, incubated for 12–14 days, and pairs commonly raise two broods in a season before departing again for their wintering grounds.
Read about this species in Swedish →