Varied Thrush

THIS IS NOT MY MAIN PHOTO POSTED TODAY!!! Flickr is messed up again and is changing the order in which my photos are seen by (some) people! That is why I started numbering my three daily photos some time ago, with #01 being my main photo. I was wondering why so few people left a comment on my intended main images. Thanks so much, Bonnie, for letting me know (again)!

I think this will be my last Varied Thrush image. None of the photos are good, but, as I'm not likely to see this beautiful bird again, I did want to make sure I could find the photos easily again (thanks to Flickr).

This photo, and half a dozen similar shots, looked reasonable when I quickly checked them in my camera after taking them. However, when I went to edit them on my computer, I discovered just how bad they came out : ( Even though this gorgeous male Varied Thrush suddenly came out into a more open spot for just a few seconds, I was standing in amongst the trees and the light was not good. My camera was fully zoomed, so the closeness of this sighting took me off guard. Ha, looks best in thumbnail size. Oh, well, at least I was fortunate enough to see this bird - my first time ever seeing one - and to get at least a few photos, even if very poor quality.

This bird spent all its time deep within the conifer trees and a tangle of dark undergrowth. If the bird was on the ground and happened to move into slightly better light for a split second, it was mostly hidden by endless tiny branches. A difficult bird to photograph, not to mention almost impossible to find in the first place.

"The Varied Thrush’s simple, ringing song gives a voice to the quiet forests of the Pacific Northwest, with their towering conifers and wet understories of ferns, shrubs, and mosses. Catch a glimpse of this shy bird and you’ll see a handsome thrush with a slaty gray back and breast band set against burnt-orange breast and belly. Common in the Cascades, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Coast, Varied Thrushes forage for insects in summer and switch to berries and seeds in winter.

Varied Thrushes hop on the ground or low in shrubs and trees. They eat mainly insects and other arthropods in the summer and switch to nuts and fruit in fall and winter. On breeding territories, male Varied Thrushes sit on exposed perches to sing their haunting, trilling songs" From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Varied_Thrush/id