I saw a small flock of these thrushes eating hawthorn berries along the old railway line, though you can sometimes see them in flocks of over a hundred birds. Like the larger Fieldfares, with whom they are often seen, they fly south from Scandinavia at night-time to spend the winter in Otley. They are quite nomadic, rarely returning to the same place to spend the winter. The red colouring is more under the wing, on the flanks, and they have a bold white stripe above the eyes. Redwings were the first bird species proved to detect fruit using ultra-violet vision – the waxy coatings of berries reflect UV light.
Photo by Pixabay
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