Ring Ouzel Bird Information & Facts

The mountain areas on the west coast of Scandinavia, England, Ireland, the Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians are the home of the ring ouzel.

Ring-Ouzel-Bird-Information-Facts

Length: 24 cm. Sexual dimorphism.
Voice: A clear, ‘piping ‘pee-u’ and a blackbird- like ‘tac-tac-tac’.
Song: Includes ‘tcheru’, ‘tchivi’, ‘ti-cho-o’ and chuckling.
Size of Egg: 28.9—34.0 x 20.3 – 24.0 mm.

Ring Ouzel Habitat

Ring Ouzel frequents light woods at the dwarf-pine line, but in northern Europe and England, the ring ouzel is to be found in moors and rocky places with thickets. Its favourite haunts, however, are mountain slopes sparsely dotted with dwarf-pine and short spruce trees, where it is most often found in the vicinity of rapid flowing mountain streams. In more southerly parts of Europe, it is a resident species, but inhabitants of the northern areas fly to countries bordering the Mediterranean in September—November, returning again in mid-March to April.

Nesting

The somewhat untidy nest of twigs, plant stalks and grasses is built low down in trees, often amidst dwarf-pine; occasionally they nest on the ground between stones, adjacent to a mountain stream. The structure is usually well concealed by lichen gathered in the immediate vicinity and added to the other building materials.

Ring-Ouzel-Bird-Nesting-Breeding

Breeding

The 4 to 5 eggs are incubated for 14 days, mostly by the hen, though sometimes the male takes a turn. Both, however, feed the nestlings for 15 to 16 days. On leaving the nest the young conceal themselves in the neighbourhood, usually between stones, and the parents continue to feed them for a further two weeks or so. When their offspring are fully independent the parent birds often build a new nest and rear a second brood.

Feed

The ring ouzel feeds chiefly on insects and their larvae, small molluscs and worms, and also on berries and soft fruits in the autumn.

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https://www.birdsinfo.org/rock-thrush/