The Mistle Thrush plays a vital role in the ecosystem by identifying and
dispersing seeds. The bird pecks at the nutcracker with its yellow beak, causing
the nut to pass through its digestive system and emerge a s a seed ready to grow.
The mistle thrush is known a s a “rain bird” or “stormcock” and is associated with
changes in the weather. Unlike most other birds, mistle thrushes seem to enjoy
cooler, rainy conditions. They often sing before and even during storms.
The species requires a mosaic of wooded and open country, and thus inhabits open mature forest, woodland glades, orchards, riverside forest, open grassland with scrub and mountain steppe with shrubs; often penetrating grassy-bracken moorland areas on low craggy hills and mountains at some distance from trees. It is most typically found, in rolling, open landscapes with scattered trees or copses, including parkland and park-like farmland. In western and central Europe, it breeds from late March to late June and from late April in the north. It breeds from late March to July in Afghanistan east to the western Himalayas, In north-west Africa it breeds from March to June. The nest is a large cup of dry grass, plant stems, roots and moss, bound together with mud and lined with fine grasses and sometimes pine needles. Typically it is found two to ten metres up in the fork of a tree and normally lays three to five eggs. It feeds on invertebrates as well as seeds and fruit in the autumn and winter. In the west of its range the species is sedentary or a partial migrant and in the north and east of its range it is more fully migratory (Collar 2015).
The species would benefit locally from the restoration and maintenance of low-intensity forestry management. IUCN Red List assessment history (Least Concern). Note that a change in IUCN Red List category does not necessarily indicate a genuine change in the status of the species, but may simply reflect improved knowledge of the species’ status.
