Читать книгу The Times A Year in Nature Notes - Derwent May - Страница 39

MISTLE THRUSHES ARE now singing more regularly. They sit high in the treetops, and their loud, challenging song is like a trumpet blast. It often ends abruptly, as though the performer has just been shot; then the bird starts all over again.

A pair of mistle thrushes can frequently be seen now out on a playing field, looking for worms. The two birds may be quite far apart, but they are very aware of each other, and if one of them goes up with its churring alarm call, the other will swiftly fly over to join it. When they stand in the open facing the low morning sun, their spotted breasts look more yellow than buff. They are large birds, and when they fly away with a flash of silver under their wings, they look as much like doves as thrushes.

On larch trees, the leaf buds are like fat little tubs along the bare brown twigs. They will soon show a tiny spot of green on the top of the tub, and the beautiful, fresh green needles that will emerge will be among the first leaves of the spring. Horse chestnut trees are also among the earliest trees to come into leaf, and their pointed buds are now very large and sticky.