Blog: birds seen (mostly) in Switzerland in 2020

Mistle thrush / Misteldrossel (Turdus viscivorus)

Todays' mystery bird. I was trying to head home, when I heard a woodpecker and had to investigate. I followed the sound quite a piece into the woods but couldn't get a glimpse of the woodpecker. Finally I stood right under a tree the noise was coming from and took this photo. On seeing the checkered belly, I was absolute convinced it was a woodpecker. But it didn't match any of the woodpeckers in my book, so I ran it past the Merlin PhotoID app, and it suggested a mistle thrush (Misteldrossel), a name I had only recently run across recently in the list of birds that live near Fehraltorf, but otherwise never heard. I was still skeptical about the pecking noise (and the other Cornell app, BirdNet, had made a wild guess that it could be a great spotted woodpecker). However, Merlin also provides you with an overview of the bird with pictures, songs, and call. Sure enough, one of its calls sounds just like this (click over there)!

Mistle thrush (Misteldrossel) in a tree in the woods near Speck. 2020-05-07 12.56.02 Hungerseeli Profile Wikipedia eBird Vogelwarte BirdLife ZH ornitho.ch bird-song.ch Xeno-Canto BirdID NABU
♫ A woodpecker sound from a thrush Recorded in the woods near Speck 2020-05-07 12.56.43 Hungerseeli (call)