Varied Thrush, Ixoreus Naevius

Day 14: Varied Thrush (two of them, actually) was doing an astonishingly good job of blending into the rich fall of Japanese maple leaves, and hopping about on a bug hunt which made the bird very difficult to track through the lens. Soon, his diet will shift from insects to berries, notably snowberry and mountain ash, both of which are present in my yard. I seldom saw Thrush here until the mountain ash reached maturity and began to bear fruit, and now I count them among my "regulars." The female of the species (shown here) is slightly browner than the male and wears a washed-out breast band as opposed to the male's distinctive black cummerbund. Young birds may be easily mistaken for females, but can be separated by a lighter "eyebrow" and a greyer breast. Like the American Robin to which they are related, Thrush may rebuild their nests in the same location each year, often stacking new material on top of the old base. Regrettably, this very preference has led to the species being listed as in steep decline as the old-growth forests which have provided suitable habitat are being logged off. If I can see the benefits of conservation right here in my own front yard in just the space of a few years, what makes it so hard for others to understand?