Varied Thrush

Day 137: This morning, I have a flush of thrush, probably half a dozen who dart quickly out from the sheltering branches of the contorted filbert to grab seed scattered by the other birds, and then back again before I can train the lens on them. Like the Towhees, they seem to prefer feeding on the ground, at least when there is snow. Also like Towhees, they search for food by digging their front talons into leaf litter or soil and then hopping backwards to turn it up, sometimes using their beaks to assist in moving larger leaf debris. Peculiar to the western states from Alaska to southern California, Ixoreus naevius is alone in its genus. The first half of the binomial ("Ixoreus") means "mistletoe," and refers to the fact that Varied Thrush eat the berries of that plant.