BOTTACCIO THRUSH - Hunt for Song Thrush

BOTTACCIO THRUSH
(Turdus philomelos)

Phenology

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BOTTACCIO THRUSH: Description

The Song Thrush belongs to the order Passeriformes, family Turdidae. It is a bird of medium to small size (about 22 cm), with a brown back and yellowish flanks and throat, paler on the belly. The undersides of the thrush are thickly mottled with black. The underwing is tawny and can be perceived when the bird is flying in bright light. The song thrush is easily distinguished from the congeners Tordela and Cesena respectively for the smaller dimensions and the uniform color of the upper parts, from the redwing for the larger dimensions and the absence of the fawn-brown area on the sides. The flight is fast, jolting, often accompanied by the typical recall "zip", similar to that of the Redwing but shorter and more decisive.

BOTTACCIO THRUSH: Habitat and distribution range

The song thrush is a widely distributed species, it nests throughout Europe from Fennoscandia (up to 60 ° degrees of latitude N) to all of continental Europe, pushing its range up to the western and south-eastern European Mediterranean areas. In the northern part of the nesting area it prefers the forests of spruce and larch, but does not disdain mixed coniferous and broad-leaved woods, especially beech (Dorst, 1970). In the southern part, the Song Thrush nests in deciduous woods also in the plains, but it can be found in city parks, in gardens, in hedges near homes. Sometimes it nests in buildings. It is absent where the soil is too dry, where the undergrowth is scarce or too sparse, in the woods dominated by pines or birches. In Italy, the song thrush nests on the Alpine Arc and the Apennines up to Calabria in humid spruce woods, coppice woods, mature fir trees. In the Po Valley it is present only in a few lowland woods, it prefers the altitudinal bands between 500-600 and 1500-1700 m asl, where it has the highest densities (Fornasari et al., 1992). The Song Thrush is a short-range nocturnal migrant, which follows different migration routes and strategies depending on the location of the population of origin. Individuals of song thrush from the northern area of the nesting area migrate south and south-west until reaching Morocco, the Canary Islands, Algeria and Tunisia. Thrushes from central Europe move south-west to overwinter in France, Spain and Portugal, those born in central-eastern Europe overwinter in Greece, Italy and ex-Yugoslavia, while the populations of Denmark, Holland and Belgium they are partially short-haul migratory (Macchio et al., 1999).

TORDO BOTTACCIO: Population size and trend

In Europe the breeding population of song thrush is estimated at 12-25 million pairs, with higher densities in Germany (1,7-5 million pairs), Sweden (1,5-3 million), France (400.000-2 million ) and England (1,1 million). The Italian breeding contingent counts 100.000-300.000 pairs, while the song thrushes that winter in Italy or cross its territory during migration come from central, eastern and north-eastern Europe. Individuals residing in our country are probably limited to moving to lower altitudes or to warmer regions. In the years from 1970 to 1990 the European population remained stable except for France, where there were large fluctuations, and England, where there were rapid decreases that affected the number of the breeding contingent. Overall, the song thrush species is considered to be non-threatened and the populations stable.

TORDO BOTTACCIO: Conservation and management

The Song Thrush does not require specific conservation measures, the extent of the distribution area and the variety of habitats used for nesting guarantee the species a considerable reproductive plasticity, which can only be affected by excessive hunting. Therefore, programs of control of the game bags are desirable to determine the sustainability of the hunting activity, together with a continuous long-term monitoring of the breeding birds (Vigorita et al., 2003a).