Did producers of highly-acclaimed new film get it wrong with depiction of Mistle Thrush?

                                                                  

Mistle Thrush - also known as 'stormcock'

DID singing Mistle Thrushes predict the stormy weather in day before D-Day landings?

That is the premise  for inclusion of a brief songbird sequence in the  highly-praised 2026  film, Pressure, which explores the meteorological circumstances that led to postponement of the Allies invasion from the proposed date, June 5, to dawn the following day.

The Mistle Thrush was selected for the sequence as it is a species noted for singing in stormy weather - hence its occasional other name, ‘stormcock’.                               

The new movie has been widely praised

But ornithological word is that the bird depicted is not a Mistle Thrush - it is a Song Thrush which is not noted as a stormy weather songster.

Movie mistakes involving inappropriate use of birds and/or birdsong are commonplace - perhaps most notably the use of an American Robin rather than a European Robin in Mary Poppins.

Notwithstanding, Pressure is an engrossing film which will doubtless cause science-minded birders, at least as an afterthought, to reflect on the impact of weather on bird behaviour, particularly migration and vagrancy

Pressure is being screened in cinemas now.