Winter Thrushes Everywhere

March 1, 2024February 29, 2024 / Jet Eliot / 67 Comments

All the winter thrushes are here in Northern California for the winter and a beautiful sight to enjoy every day.

American Robins are a celebrated harbinger of spring for many Americans, but here in Northern California and other temperate states, we enjoy a flurry of robins throughout the winter.

Sometimes flocks of 50-100 can be seen high in the sky. In this photo below you can see a flock of approximately 40 before they landed to join several dozen robins already in the trees.

Much of the time we see them on front lawns…the classic robin sight.

There is something about robins and Americans that make the American Robin a much-loved bird.

I could go on about them here, but I want to show you three other thrush species who join us for the winter.

In winter, hermit thrushes can be seen in much of the U.S. south and the west coast. We have an individual who shows up in our garden every day, below.

Like other birds in the Turdidae family, these thrushes are often seen close to the ground. They hop, peck, hunt for insects and occasionally flick their tail while perched. When it is too cold for insects, they are in the bushes plucking berries.

This hermit thrush below was making its way across a toyon bush, one berry at a time.

Like the robin, hermit and varied thrushes migrate north to their breeding grounds in spring. Their melodious songs, therefore, are not heard here in the winter. We hear their calls, but not their songs.

Once in a while there’s a free-thinking robin who decides not to migrate, but most of their species, Turdus migratorius, migrate away when the weather warms.

The varied thrush is another special bird that joins us for the winter. Unlike the hermit thrushes and robins, varied thrushes are a western bird.

I have seen or heard varied thrushes almost every day this winter, something I think is so very fortunate. Ixoreus naevius.

Usually solitary and skittish, they can be seen along the creeks or in the woods.

Varied thrushes have a two-toned call that is so unique it stops me in my tracks. With two sets of membranes and muscles in the vocal organs, it enables the bird to sing two different notes at the same time.

Here is a recording of their two-toned call, below. I also hear a flock of robins in the background.

Audio Recording of Varied Thrush, from Xeno-Canto.org

They can often be overlooked as “just a robin” because they are the same size and similar colors as the American Robin, but there are distinctive markings that make this bird different.

Lastly, a fourth thrush we have here in Northern California, the western bluebird, stays with us year-round. Sialia mexicana. Many folks are surprised to know that bluebirds are in the thrush family.

By springtime they are building their nests and preparing for new broods, but for now they are seen in pairs or flocks of 6-10, fluttering and flashing their sky-blue colors.

To use the lyrics from “Rockin’ Robin,” our thrushes rock in the tree tops all day long, hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and a-singing their song.

Not only do they rock in the treetops all day long, but they also bathe with abandon in the puddles and scatter about chirping when the rains have stopped.

Rockin’ thrushes.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Lyrics by Leon Rene.

You Tube “Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day.

Blue Jay or Bluebird?

June 16, 2023June 15, 2023 / Jet Eliot / 69 Comments

Summer months and nesting bluebirds make this a good time to look at a few of Earth’s birds of blue and review the differences between a blue jay and a bluebird.

Bluebirds.

Bluebird species occur in most parts of North America, there are three kinds: mountain, western and eastern. They are medium-sized songbirds in the thrush (Turdidae) family. Bluebirds are a couple of inches smaller than the American Robin, their thrush cousin.

The three different bluebird species vary slightly in colors and markings, but primarily they look very much alike. The mountain bluebird has mostly blue, gray and white markings, whereas the eastern and western bluebirds have varying shades of rust-colored breasts.

Here is the mountain bluebird, below. One year we found a whole family of them on an abandoned barn near the Grand Tetons.

The eastern and western bluebirds are very similar.

Below is the western bluebird we have in California. They can often be seen hunting for insects, especially right now when they are caring for nestlings. They are fairly quiet birds but do have a subtle “kew” sound when perched and in flight.

American Bird Conservancy, photos of the three different bluebird species

Jays.

In a completely different family are the blue jays. They are in the Corvid family (Corvidae), as are crows, ravens and magpies. There are many different kinds of jays.

More info: Jay Wikipedia

Jays are noticeably larger than bluebirds, usually about 10-12 inches long (25-30cm). Markings are pronounced with blue, gray, white, and/or black–no orange or brown. They are often noisy and behave boldly and aggressively.

Jays are also one of the smartest bird species on the planet.

Although many of the jays in North America are blue, they are not all blue.

And even though a jay may be a blue color, does not make it a blue jay.

If you see a jay that is blue and you are in California, for example, it is not a blue jay. It is most likely a Scrub-Jay or a Steller’s Jay.

The blue jay species, Cyanocitta cristata, is mostly found east of the Rockies. (There are range maps that show them west of the Rockies, but that is considered scarce.)

Below is a photo of a blue jay, taken in Georgia on Spanish moss.

And here are photos of the two jays we see the most in California: the California Scrub-jay and a Steller’s Jay.

Jays, as many of us know, are a raucous bird. I’ve heard many backyard birders describe them as “the bully” of their feeder. Admittedly they can be a bit rough, even ruthless, at times.

I love to watch jays in our backyard. We are surrounded by oak trees. I follow a jay with my eyes and am frequently entertained by this one activity that I’ve seen dozens of times. The bird looks like it is randomly digging in the earth until you realize it is not random at all. They go straight to a spot in the dirt, dig a few inches down, and promptly pluck out an acorn they planted weeks or months earlier.

As a west coast resident, I go to the eastern U.S. hoping to see blue jays, such a beautiful bird. Having grown up in the Midwest, the sound of a blue jay is seared into my head. I light up when that long-familiar call pierces the air.

When traveling, it is always fun to talk with other birders and locals about their resident jays and bluebirds.

Here are a few other jays of noteworthy beauty.

Jays and bluebirds are decidedly very different. Hopefully this has helped you see a few of the differences. Regardless of the names, however, we can all revel in their presence and beauty.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

When the Thrushes Return

November 4, 2016 / Jet Eliot / 60 Comments

Varied Thrush, male, California

It is in the autumn when the birds have left their summer breeding grounds, that we gratefully receive the thrushes in northern California.

We watch all summer long as the toyon bushes and madrone trees flower, then bear fruit. Toward late summer the berries grow bigger and start to turn from green to orange and red. Here’s what we say, “It looks like the berries will be just right for the thrushes.”

Hermit Thrush on Toyon

If we are so lucky to get rain–and we have been this year–then the berries grow plump and they are perfect for the thrushes.

Not every year does it all turn out so well. If we have drought, the berries wither and drop to the ground. And the thrushes do not come.

But right now, our hillsides and forests are bright with the fresh new berries ripening in the autumn sun.

Our first hermit thrush arrived about two weeks ago — this is an event worth noting (and I do), for soon more will follow. In the past few years there has been one quirky individual who arrives first and leaves last every season.

He’s not eating the berries yet, apparently they’re not perfectly ripe.

As ground birds, they can be seen hopping on the ground, or tugging at berries in the bushes. In addition to the berries, thrushes eat insects, worms, and snails.

And it is not just the hermit and varied thrushes that winter here, we also look forward to greeting the robins.

American Robin, Calif.

Robins, also in the Turdidae thrush family, come in flocks. Whereas the hermit and varied thrushes are often individuals or in pairs, the robins come in very large flocks, sometimes as much as 100.

There are many genera and species of Turdidae in the world. (For more info click here.)

But here in northern California, we treasure our three fall thrushes, and avidly listen for the “chirrup” and chipping sounds, joining us for yet another winter.