Fieldfare

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) is a large colourful thrush with a grey head and rump, chestnut back, dark tail and heavily spotted golden-buff breast. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in woodland and scrub across northern Eurasia, sometimes in colonies, migrates south in flocks and feeds on soil invertebrates in summer and berries, grain and seeds in winter. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).