Hermit Thrush

Bronte Creek campgrounds, Oakville. ON. March 7th. 2021. I always pick away at the calendar in March looking for signs of winter’s release. It’s worth a try but it doesn’t give way easily and I know we’ll still be getting vengeful, cold reminders in May.

A couple of friends and I went looking for wintering birds today but with an attentive eye for signs of spring. Trudging through crusty snow or sliding on slippery packed ice made it hard work at times.   Wherever we went we could hear Downy Woodpeckers drumming loudly, it’s their way of claiming territory.  There were just as many Northern Cardinals in full song and a couple of House Finches too; all signs of spring but really, if that was what you wanted, you had to look pretty hard.

I lost contact with my friends for a few minutes as I pushed my way through the interlocking thickness of a pine plantation. There was no snow in there and perhaps it was the clear ground and the chance of food that attracted a furtive Hermit Thrush. It caught my eye as it worked busily staying low to the ground. I didn’t get much in the way of prolonged views, it was moving quite rapidly, but when I did have the luxury of a clear sight I was able to confirm the identification – not that it could be confused with much else at this time of year. There are always a few Hermit Thrushes overwintering here, quite unlike their cousins the Gray-cheeked, Wood, and Swainson’s Thrushes, who all head to tropical forests anywhere from Southern Mexico to the Amazon Basin. Somewhere along the way, evolution has convinced the Hermit Thrush that staying put and making a go of it in the northern winter presents fewer risks than the journey to Brazil and back.

It was a welcome sight, heartwarming I think is the word, Hermit Thrush – My Bird of the Day.