My goodness, what is this hanging off of my suet feeder? He is way too big to be balancing up there. This first photo is not the most flattering, but it did catch my attention. I see that he is a big bird, larger than the downy woodpecker that usually visits, but closer in size to the red bellied woodpecker.
But he/she is not a woodpecker. He stops for a brief moment to shake off the cold rain. He is a rich rusty brown color.
He has bright yellow eyes with a determined look and above he appears to be long and thin...yet...
here he is thick and ball shaped. This is what makes birds hard to ID unless you watch them for some time.
This photo above, in better focus, reveals his more normal shape. It is the brown thrasher, which is most often seen 'thrashing' about in the leaves and looking for bugs under them. Because of his coloring and the fact that he stays low under bushes he is often hard to see. He has the most interesting song which can be
heard here. (Scroll down to the middle of the page in that link.)
OKAY, I will put the camera down and back away!
What great photos! I often wonder what the animals are thinking, beginning with my cat.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful color...and the eyes just pop...how intriguing....wonder why he chose balancing over thrashing today? smile.s
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have those here, or maybe I'm just not looking often enough. He's rather pretty; I like his spots.
ReplyDeleteI see you know a lot more about birds than I do. I feed the little skylark a mixture of half a weet bix mixed with water and a quarter of a hard boiled egg yolk. We feed that off the end of a match stick. There is a tiny lid with crumbled toast crumbs in his box but he doesn't appear to be eating them. He is doing well so far. I love your crisp photos of the thrasher, don't think we have any here.
ReplyDeleteIDing birds is not my strong suit -- that's why i like to observe them, but don't keep track of which kind i've seen.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely song it has. Reminds me a bit of an English blackbird which never sings the same thing twice. It's a most unusual colour, too. I'd never heard of it before.
ReplyDeleteCool! I don't think I have ever seen one.
ReplyDeleteNice to see a brown thrasher. We don't have them here.
ReplyDeleteYou could publish a book on the body language of birds. There is no doubt this fellow is telling you to back away:)
ReplyDeleteBring on the Brown Thrasher, beautiful in all it's doing.
ReplyDeleteI called it from the first picture. But I can only credit my bird loving son. I saw the same bird in our backyard last year and he told me what it was. ;)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful birds! I've been trying to capture it on camera for a while now but I've seen it so rarely.
Great catch!
I disagree with Grannie Annie, he is definitely telling you to back away!
ReplyDeleteMr Thrasher looks mighty healthy and fit in your photos. He apparently knew where to find food during the ice and snow. Bare ground under bushes probably gave him a place to dine. Good post -- barbara
ReplyDeleteGracious! I've never seen a bird like that before. How wonderful!
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