mistle thrush

[sbeau66]

Last year a young mistle thrush made a nest in a wisteria growing over my barn, she successfully raised 3 young , (pictured in my avatar) and it was wonderful to watch mum (and dad) feeding them , and i was surprised to see that, unlike song thrushes, the young do not leave the nest until fully capable of flight, my question is, will she return to the same location to nest this year?, i have seen her hopping about on the wisteria, and i have left her previous nest alone, anyone know the answer?

[Dogghound]

There is a possibility. They dont use the exact same nest site each year so if it does it will build a new nest. If there is a mistle thrush around then thats a good sign.

[sbeau66]

Interesting news, mrs mistle has come back, spring cleaning her last years nest, she took out all the leaves and moss and muck that had setttled in the centre bowl part of the nest and has relined it with fresh clean new dry grass, very neatly too i must say, better than last year, she obviously likes the nest spot, and is very good at her housework, i was very surprised to see what she had done in only a week. (same nest as my avatar)
So does this prove something about them reusing a nest if its still serviceable?is there any data on the behavior?

[sumbody]

Glad to hear Mrs Mistle has returned for another year.

We had a pair nesting across the main road last year - the male was very boisterous and chased the pair of great tits who were nesting in my front garden box daily as well as any others who were in the vicinity.

Sadly, after they had their chicks a crow raided their nest and knocked two chicks to the ground in the skirmish.

After that they were gone and never came back.

Hopefully they will try again this year - it was good to see the female making her nest out of all the bits of carrier bags and plastic that had blown onto the trees and was hanging - good to see also jays and magpies trying to "rob" the nest of some of its plastic strips during building

[sbeau66]

mrs mistle is now sitting on four beautiful blue speckled eggs, same amount as last year, thou only 3 hatched last time, lets see how she gets on!!!

[sbeau66]

Good news, she has successfully hatched all 4 eggs and now has 4 beautiful, if slightly alien looking chicks, dad is helping, he is on guard all day and is helping with the feeding, do you think i should tell the rspb or the wildlife trust about her nest as i have no idea whether they are uncommon around here?,, i will post some pics soon as she can be photographed easily without disturbing