Redwing

Redwing

Turdus iliacus

Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Leeds

In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%

245 Verified sightings at Leeds
2,513 In all 15 parks From 2019 to 2026
November Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Redwing

The redwing (Turdus iliacus) is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name.

The English name derives from the bird's red underwing. It is not closely related to the red-winged blackbird, a North American species sometimes nicknamed "redwing", which is an icterid, not a thrush. The binomial name derives from the Latin words turdus, "thrush", and ile "flank".

About 65 species of medium to large thrushes are in the genus Turdus, characterised by rounded heads, longish, pointed wings, and usually melodious songs. Although two European thrushes, the song thrush and mistle thrush, are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa, the redwing is descended from ancestors that had colonised the Caribbean islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there.

The redwing has two subspecies: Turdus iliacus iliacus, the nominate subspecies described by Linnaeus, which breeds in mainland Eurasia. Turdus... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:07

France · 2026

© Thierry THOMAS · XC1186216 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:40

Sweden · 2026

© Lars Edenius · XC1155963 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Flight call0:22

France · 2023

© Stanislas Wroza · XC776865 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Vatnajokull National Park 🇮🇸 Iceland
~50%
2 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
3 Sierra Nevada National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
4 Biebrza National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~10%
5 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
6 Gauja National Park 🇱🇻 Latvia
<5%
7 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
<5%
8 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
9 Cairngorms National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
<5%
10 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
<5%
11 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
12 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
13 Monfragüe National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
14 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
15 Aigüestortes National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Yekaterinburg 🇷🇺 Russia
~40%
2 Manchester 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
3 London 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
4 Sincan 🇹🇷 Turkey
~20%
5 Birmingham 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
6 Budapest 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
7 Helsinki 🇫🇮 Finland
~10%
8 Leeds 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
9 Nizhny Novgorod 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
10 Ankara 🇹🇷 Turkey
~10%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Korkeasaari Zoo 🇫🇮 Finland In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Redwing in Leeds?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Redwing sighting in Leeds on a given day, based on 245 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 49th most-seen of the 113 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Redwing in Leeds?

November

In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Redwing in Leeds on a given day, against under 5% in April to September, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Redwing?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Redwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Leeds the best place to see a Redwing?

8th of 49

Of the 49 cities where we can rate Redwing sightings, Leeds ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Yekaterinburg (Russia, about 40%), Manchester (United Kingdom, about 20%) and London (United Kingdom, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Redwing live in Leeds?

Same genus: Turdus

The closest relatives of the Redwing that you can see in Leeds (genus Turdus, Typical Thrushes) are Eurasian Blackbird (about 70%), Song Thrush (about 20%) and Mistle Thrush (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Redwing sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Redwing is recorded against all the birds logged in Leeds (245 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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