Redwing vs Fieldfare: How to Tell the Winter Thrushes Apart

Updated 9 October 2026

Side by side

Swipe the table sideways on a small screen. Winter counts are old and swing with the weather and the berry crop abroad.

The quickest way to tell them apart

Check the face. A cream stripe over the eye means Redwing. A plain grey head means Fieldfare. Nothing else in a winter hedge has either pattern.

If the flock is in the air, listen. A thin "tseep" is a Redwing. A hard "chack-chack" is a Fieldfare. Mixed flocks give you both at once.

By sight

• Size. In a mixed flock the Fieldfares stand a head taller. A Redwing next to one looks small, dark and neat.
• Face. The Redwing's cream eye stripe shows at long range, even in poor light. The Fieldfare's head is plain grey with a dark patch in front of the eye.
• Flanks and underwing. The Redwing's red is on the flank and under the wing, not on the wing itself. On a perched bird it can be half hidden. The Fieldfare flashes clean white under the wing as it takes off.
• Back and rump. A Fieldfare flying away shows three blocks of colour: chestnut back, grey rump, black tail. A Redwing is plain dark brown from behind.
• Breast. Redwings are streaked on a pale background. Fieldfares have a warm orange-buff wash with black arrowheads that crowd together on the flanks.

By sound

The Redwing's "tseep" is thin, high and slightly drawn out. Redwings migrate at night, so on a still, clear October night you can hear it over towns and cities. It is often the first sign that they are back.

The Fieldfare's "chack-chack-chack" is loud and harsh, like two stones knocked together. A flock gives it as it lifts off a field or a hedge. Feeding birds also make a thin, nasal "weeip".

Neither sings much in Britain. On mild days in late winter, Redwing flocks sit in the treetops and make a soft, twittering chorus before they leave. Check a recording with Bird Hear or read how it works on Sound ID.

By season and habitat

Both are winter visitors. Redwings come from Iceland and Scandinavia. Fieldfares come from Scandinavia and eastern Europe. Redwings are first in, with an average arrival date of 1 October. Fieldfares build up through October. The first big falls hit the east coast with easterly winds.

In autumn both strip hawthorn, rowan and holly berries. Once the hedges are bare they move onto pasture and playing fields for worms. Fieldfares feed further out in the open. Redwings stay nearer a hedge or wood and dive back into it when disturbed.

Both wander all winter and follow the food, so a field that held 200 birds one week can be empty the next. Snow and hard frost push them into gardens. See feeding garden birds from November for what to put out.

A few pairs of each breed in Britain, mostly in northern Scotland. Both are on Schedule 1, so it is an offence to disturb them at the nest.

Common mistakes

• Calling a Redwing a Song Thrush. Song Thrushes have a plain face, arrow-shaped spots and no red on the flank. See Song Thrush vs Mistle Thrush.
• Calling a Fieldfare a Mistle Thrush. Both are big and show white underwings. The Mistle Thrush is plain grey-brown above, with no grey head or chestnut back, and it rattles.
• Expecting red wings. The name misleads. The red is on the flank and the underwing, and you see most of it in flight.
• Writing off a distant flock as Starlings. Redwings in flight are a similar size and shape. Wait for the call.

Where to see both

Any stretch of lowland farmland with tall, berry-laden hedges will do from mid October. Orchards with windfall apples are reliable later in the winter. On reserves, try the hedges and wet grassland at RSPB Leighton Moss, Rutland Water or RSPB Minsmere. For what else is arriving, see birds to see in October and November.