 = Fieldfare = 
 
 The fieldfare ( Turdus pilaris ) is a member of the thrush family Turdidae . It breeds in woodland and scrub in northern Europe and Asia . It is strongly migratory , with many northern birds moving south during the winter . It is a very rare breeder in the British Isles , but winters in large numbers in the United Kingdom , Southern Europe , North Africa and the Middle East . It is omnivorous , eating a wide range of molluscs , insects and earthworms in the summer , and berries , grain and seeds in the winter . 
 Fieldfares often nest in small colonies , possibly for protection from predators . The nest is built in a tree where five or six eggs are laid . The chicks are fed by both parents and leave the nest after a fortnight . There may be two broods in southern parts of the range but only one further north . Migrating birds and wintering birds often form large flocks , often in the company of Redwings . 
 The fieldfare is 25 cm ( 10 in ) long , with a grey crown , neck and rump , a plain brown back , dark wings and tail and white underwings . The breast and flanks are heavily spotted . The breast has a reddish wash and the rest of the underparts are white . The sexes are similar in appearance but the females are slightly more brown . The male has a simple chattering song and the birds have various guttural flight and alarm calls . 
 
 = = Etymology = = 
 
 The English common name fieldfare dates back to at least the eleventh century . The Anglo @-@ Saxon word feldefare perhaps meant traveller through the fields . 
 The species was described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae ( 1758 ) under its current scientific name . The name Turdus pilaris comes from two separate Latin words for thrush . No subspecies are recognised . 
 
 = = Description = = 
 
 The fieldfare is easily recognisable with its slate @-@ grey head , nape and rump , dark brown back , blackish tail and boldly speckled breast . In flight , its white under wing @-@ coverts and axillaries are conspicuous . The harsh flight call " tsak tsak " is also distinctive . 
 The forehead and crown of the male are bluish @-@ grey and each feather has a central brownish @-@ black band . The lores and under @-@ eye regions are black and there are faint , pale streaks above the eyes . The ear coverts , nape , hind neck and rump are bluish @-@ grey , usually with a white streak near the shaft of each rump feather . The scapulars and mantle feathers are dark chestnut @-@ brown with dark central streaks and pale tips . There are fourteen tail feathers each with a pointed tip , the outer two slightly shorter than the others giving a rounded tail . They are brownish @-@ black , with inconspicuous darker bars visible in some lights . The outer edge of each tail feather is fringed with grey near the base and the outer pair of feathers have a narrow white border on the inner edge . The chin , throat and upper breast are creamy @-@ buff with bold streaks and speckles of brownish @-@ black . The lower breast is creamy @-@ white with a diminishing buff tinge and fewer speckles and the belly is similarly creamy @-@ white , with the speckles restricted to the uppermost parts . The primaries are brownish @-@ black with the leading edge fringed grey and the inner edge of the outer feathers grey near the base whereas the inner feathers are fringed with brown near the base . The secondaries are similar but fringed with chestnut @-@ brown on the leading edge . The upper wing @-@ coverts are brownish @-@ black and similar to the outer primaries in their margin colouration . The axillaries and under wing @-@ coverts are white and the under tail @-@ coverts have dark greyish @-@ brown bases and margins and white centres and tips . The beak is strong , with a slight curve and a notch near the tip . It is orange @-@ yellow in winter , with the upper mandible somewhat brownish and both mandible tips brownish @-@ black . In the summer both mandibles of the male 's beak are yellow . The irises are dark brown and the legs and feet are brown . The average adult length is 25 cm ( 9 @.@ 8 in ) , the winglength is 14 @.@ 5 cm ( 5 @.@ 7 in ) and the tarsal length 3 @.@ 5 cm ( 1 @.@ 4 in ) . 
 The female is very similar to the male but the upper parts are somewhat more brownish and the feathers on the crown have narrower black central stripes . The throat and breast are paler with fewer , smaller markings . The beak is similar to the male 's winter beak . The juvenile are a duller colour than the adults with pale coloured streaks on the feathers that have dark streaks in the adult . The young assume their adult plumage after their first moult in the autumn . 
 The call is mostly uttered in flight and is a harsh " tsak tsak tsuk " . The same sound , but softer , is made more conversationally when individuals gather in trees . When angry or alarmed they emit various warning sounds reminiscent of the mistle thrush ( Turdus viscivorous ) . The male has a rather feeble song that he sings in the breeding season . It is a mixture of a few phrases like those of the common blackbird ( Turdus merula ) interspersed with whistles , guttural squeaks and call notes . This is sung on the wing and also from a tree and a subdued version of this song with more warbling notes is sung by a group of birds at communal roosts . 
 
 = = Distribution and habitat = = 
 
 The fieldfare is a migratory species with a palearctic distribution . It breeds in northern Norway , northern Sweden , Finland , Belgium , Germany , Switzerland , Austria , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Hungary , Poland and Siberia as far east as Transbaikal , the Aldan River and the Tian Shan Mountains in North West China . Its winter range extends through West and South Europe to North Africa , though it is uncommon in the Mediterranean region . Eastern populations migrate to Anatolia , Israel , Iran and Northwest India , and occasionally Northeast India . It is a vagrant to Iceland , Greenland , Spitsbergen , the Canary Islands , the Balearic Islands , Madeira , Corsica , Sardinia , Sicily , Malta and Cyprus . 
 In the summer the fieldfare frequents mixed woodland of birch , alder , pine , spruce and fir , often near marshes , moorland or other open ground . It does not avoid the vicinity of humans and can be seen in cultivated areas , orchards , parks and gardens . It also inhabits open tundra and the slopes of hills above the tree line . In the winter , groups of fieldfares are chiefly found in open country , agricultural land , orchards and open woodland . They are nomadic , wandering wherever there is an abundance of berries and insects . Later in the year they move on to pastureland and cultivated fields . 
 
 = = Behaviour = = 
 
 The flight of the fieldfare is slow and direct . It takes several strong beats then closes its wings briefly before flapping on . It is highly gregarious , quite shy and easily scared in the winter and bold and noisy in the breeding season . When a group is in a tree they all tend to face in the same direction , keeping up a constant chatter . When foraging on the ground , often in association with redwings , the group works its way up wind , each bird pausing every so often to stand erect and gaze around before resuming feeding . When alarmed they fly off down wind and the feeding group reforms elsewhere . In woodland they do not skulk in the undergrowth as do blackbirds or song thrushes , instead they perch in the open on bushes and high branches . They roost socially , sometimes in overgrown hedges and shrubberies but usually on the ground . Common sites are in rough grass among bushes or clumps of rushes , in young plantations , on stubble and in the furrows of ploughed fields . 
 Migration southwards from the breeding range starts in October but the bulk of birds arrive in the United Kingdom in November . Some of these are still on passage and carry on into continental Europe but others remain . The passage @-@ migrants return in April and they and the resident migrants depart from the United Kingdom mostly by early May . 
 The fieldfare is omnivorous . Animal food in the diet includes snails and slugs , earthworms , spiders and insects such as beetles and their larvae , flies and grasshoppers . When berries ripen in the autumn these are taken in great number . Hawthorn , holly , rowan , yew , juniper , dog rose , Cotoneaster , Pyracantha and Berberis are all relished . Later in the winter windfall apples are eaten , swedes attacked in the field and grain and seeds eaten . When these are exhausted , or in particularly harsh weather , the birds may move to marshes or even the foreshore where molluscs are to be found . 
 
 = = Breeding = = 
 
 The breeding season starts in May in Poland but further north in Scandinavia may not start until early July . The female fieldfare builds a cup @-@ shaped nest with no attempt at concealment . The location is often in woodland but may be in a hedgerow , garden , among rocks , in a pile of logs , in a hut or on the ground . Fieldfares usually nest in close proximity to others of the same species . The adults will defend the nest aggressively and nesting gregariously may offer protection from predators . The nest is built of dried grasses and weeds with a few twigs and a little moss , with a lining of mud and an inner lining of fine grasses . There are usually five to six eggs in a clutch , but occasionally three , four , seven or eight eggs are laid . The eggs vary in size from 28 @.@ 8 by 20 @.@ 9 millimetres ( 1 @.@ 13 in × 0 @.@ 82 in ) to 33 @.@ 5 by 23 @.@ 4 millimetres ( 1 @.@ 32 in × 0 @.@ 92 in ) and are variable in colour . Many are pale blue speckled with fine brown dots and resemble those of the common blackbird . Others are bright blue , with or without larger red @-@ brown splotches . Incubation starts before all the eggs are laid and lasts for thirteen to fourteen days . The female does all or most of the incubation . The chicks are altricial and both parents bring food to them . They are usually ready to leave the nest after fourteen to sixteen days and there may be two broods in the season , especially in the southern parts of the breeding range . 
 
 = = Status and conservation = = 
 
 The fieldfare has an extensive range , estimated at 10 million square kilometres ( 3 @.@ 8 million square miles ) , and a large population , including an estimated forty two to seventy two million individuals in Europe . There are thought to be up to twenty thousand individuals in Russia and the global population is estimated to be between forty four and ninety six million individuals . The population size appears to be stable and the bird is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ( i.e. , declining more than 30 % in ten years or three generations ) , and is therefore evaluated as being of " Least Concern " . 
 In the United Kingdom , at the extreme edge of the fieldfare 's breeding range , only a handful of pairs breed . It is therefore classified by the RSPB as a Red List species as of January 2013 . 
 
 