Hermit Thrush

There's a great thrill in seeing a particular species of bird for the first time. By now I have read so much about different species of songbirds, that I am getting kind of good at guessing what the bird is before I confirm my guess through the use of a guide.

Today was one of those occasions - I just saw a hermit thrush feasting on the fat caterpillars on the "back forty" of our farm, that I like to refer to as the West Slope, because it sounds more poetic. The West Slope is more of a rough, rocky, steep territory, extending from the top of the hill where the house is to the bottom of the hill, where it meets the fence line and the neighbor's corn/soybean field. It is used as a pasture in the summer, but it's full of brushy bushes, scattered trees, and lots and lots of lime stone. As we were buying this farm three years ago, the son of the previous owner said that the West Slope, or the "Bluff" as he referred to one of its parts, was his favorite spot to retreat to. I can see how a place like this could harbor a whole world of wonders for a twelve-year-old. So it does for me, too.

The West slope is also the only "wooded" spot on our farm - it's not really wooded at all, but it's got a concentration of trees that is not found anywhere else, except around the house, the orchard, and the wild apple and bramble hedge along the fence lines. There's a beautiful green ash, a mini-grove of birches, one of which we dug up a few years ago and transplanted into the front yard - because I got an idea that I wanted a birch in my yard (it was, and still is, a tiny baby birch). There are also pines, of course, and I think also some cottonwoods.

Different birds can be heard and seen singing from the perch there, and it's also where the chicken coops are. That's where I saw my first bluebird, and also the hermit thrush today.

Hermit thrush does not winter or breed here - as far as I understand, it can only be found here during the migration. It spends the cold season towards the south of the country, and raises its young in the north woods - in the Northern Wisconsin, the UP, Canada, and so forth. So whenever I spot a migrant, I consider myself privileged.

I didn't hear its song - a famously quiet bird, unless on the breeding ground or getting ready to depart for its breeding ground in the late spring, hermit thrush takes its name from this habit. Slightly larger than a bluebird but smaller than a wood thrush (who, incidentally, was mentioned on the radio both yesterday and today on different programs), it has a distinctive rusty-red tail, and, unlike the wood thrush, it has spotting mostly on the top part of the breast, with a relatively-white belly. You can acquaint yourself with the hermit thrush here (picture) and here (song).