SymbiosisSymbiosis
Mistle Thrush
Fernando Losada Rodríguez / CC BY-SA 4.0

Bird · Turdidae

Mistle Thrush

Turdus viscivorus

Bird call

© Romuald Mikusek / XC1151620 / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Facts

Habitat
Open woodland, woodland edge, parks, upland moors
IUCN status
LC (Least Concern)
Wingspan
~42 cm
Mistle Thrush plumage
Plumage · (c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY)

Ecological relationships

Feeds on

  • Common YewTaxus baccata

    Defends Yew berry crops aggressively in winter, chasing off Blackbirds and Fieldfares. A textbook example of resource-defense behaviour (Snow & Snow 1988). The Yew aril is consumed whole while the toxic seed passes unharmed.

  • RowanSorbus aucuparia

    Also defends Rowan berry crops in upland areas using the same resource-defense strategy; a key disperser of Rowan seeds into open habitats above the treeline.

Disperses seeds of

  • European MistletoeViscum album

    Primary ornithochorous disperser; sticky seeds are wiped from the bill onto host branches after ingestion. The namesake mutualism from which the bird's English name derives (Snow & Snow 1988).