Redwing
| Redwing | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Adult T. i. iliacus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Turdidae |
| Genus: | Turdus |
| Species: | T. iliacus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Turdus iliacus Linnaeus, 1758 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
None, as Turdus musicus L. was suppressed by the ICZN. |
|
None, as Turdus musicus L. was suppressed by the ICZN.
The redwing (Turdus iliacus) is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and Asia, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name.
The English name derives from the bird's red underwing. It is not closely related to the red-winged blackbird, a North American species sometimes nicknamed "redwing", which is an icterid, not a thrush. The binomial name derives from the Latin words turdus, "thrush", and ile "flank".
The redwing has two subspecies:
It is 20–24 cm long with a wingspan of 33–34.5 cm and a weight of 50–75 g. The sexes are similar, with plain brown backs and with dark brown spots on the white underparts. The most striking identification features are the red flanks and underwing, and the creamy white stripe above the eye. Adults moult between June and September, which means that some start to replace their flight feathers while still feeding young.
The male has a varied short song, and a whistling flight call.
It breeds in northern regions of Europe and Asia, from Iceland south to northernmost Scotland, and east through Scandinavia, the Baltic States, northern Poland and Belarus, and through most of Russia to about 165°E in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. In recent years it has expanded its range slightly, both in eastern Europe where it now breeds south into northern Ukraine, and in southern Greenland, where the Qaqortoq area was colonised in 1990–1991.
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Wikipedia