There's No Place Like Home: Hermit Thrush in the Backyard

I really love Hermit Thrushes (Catharus guttatus). They are secretive birds, spending much of their time hidden away in the thick underbrush. They live along the Tuolumne River trail that I walk every day, but they are so hard to find that most of 2021 had passed before I saw the first one of the year. Any time I see one there, I'm thrilled, and I call it a good day.

So today I was mowing the lawn (yes, I live in California after all, and it rained a few weeks ago, plus I like to mulch the fallen leaves instead of raking). I was unplugging the mower and happened to look around the corner by the air conditioner, and I saw bird scratching in the leaves. I assumed it was a sparrow, but it looked odd. I quietly stepped back and went in the house for my camera.

I got back and was just astonished to find it was a Hermit Thrush in my own backyard! I am continually amazed the sheer variety of birds that can be discovered in urban settings. In observations from my backyard and short walks in the local neighborhood we've now seen 59 species of birds. Sure, some of them were flying high overhead. No Sandhill Cranes hanging out in the backyard yet for instance, although Great Egrets and Green Herons have in fact fished out of our lily pond a few times (RIP dear old goldfishes). But today counts as one of the most thrilling discoveries.

 

One of the Hidden Ones: A Hermit Thrush on the Tuolumne River

I'm often reminded on my walks through the river woodlands just how many birds and other animals  I don't see. I know good and well that there are myriads of creatures watching me, but I almost never see them back. The reminder in this instance came when I saw a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) for only the second time on the trail (the first time was way back in 2015). And as is usual for me, I only barely realized what it was.

There is a particularly lush green section of the trail with overhanging oak and fig trees, and lots of underbrush. If I see any birds at all among all the shrubs, they tend to be California Towhees, which are kind of a drab brown with a reddish rump. So I wasn't too excited when I saw the drab brown bird, but something seemed a little different about it so I snapped some pictures and waited for to turn around. When it did I realized it was actually a Hermit Thrush (the spots gave it away). It's a pretty bird with a nice song. I would love to see them more often!

More From the Way-Back Machine: Hermit Thrush on the Tuolumne River

As noted in yesterday's post, I've had occasion to rifle through the tens of thousands of digital files of bird pictures from my trips and walks prior to 2017 when I...um...wasn't filing carefully. In other words, there were some nice pictures of bird discoveries here and there that got lost in the shuffle. I was not so good at bird identification back then (and still am not today), so I missed some species. Today I discovered that I had snapped some shots of a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail back in January of 2015. Unfortunately, I haven't seen one since, but Siera Nystrom, fellow nature blogger, saw one on the river in February of 2017.

I've posted about Hermit Thrushes three previous times, but they were not near home. It's nice to know I have a chance to see them here. The Tuolumne Parkway Trail winds for two miles along the riparian oak woodland of the Tuolumne where it flows from the Sierra Mother Lode onto the floor of the Great Valley near Waterford. Parts of the trail were constructed only as recently as 2015.

Hermit Thrush at Cape Perpetua, Oregon

I don't see Hermit Thrushes (Catharus guttatus) very often, and catching photographs of them has proven difficult (although I have a few). I've been on the road, as is usual for this time of year, and we were stopped at Cape Perpetua on the central Oregon Coast to have a look at the pounding surf. I haven't been expecting to see all that many birds out and about in the winter environment, but I've been pleasantly surprised many times over. As we were leaving the visitor center at the Cape, I saw a bird lurking just over my head, and there was the thrush! It felt close enough to touch, but as you can see, the angle for pictures was very steep. 

For the most part, Hermit Thrushes spend the winter much further to the south, especially in the southern tier of American states and Mexico. The exception is the west coast of the United States, where they may winter as far north as Washington state. The climate stays warmer because of the moderating effect of the nearby Pacific Ocean.

A Hermit Thrush on California's Largest Volcano

We had a marvelous trip over the weekend through the volcano country of Northern California. Part of the fun was exploring some new places and seeing all kinds of birds, including this Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) near the summit of Medicine Lake Highland, the largest volcano in California. It was a quick shot off the side of the road, and it was gone.

Medicine Lake Highland (or the Medicine Lake Volcano) is barely half the height of Mt. Shasta, but it is much wider, and contains around 130 cubic miles of lava flows, compared to Shasta's 108. It is a shield style volcano, similar in outline to the gigantic basalt mountains that make up the Big Island of Hawai'i, but it is composed of a variety of lavas, including rhyolite and andesite. The mountain is covered by deep forests and barren lava flows, providing a variety of environments for birds.

Medicine Lake Highland is the broad dome in the distance on the center-left. Shasta can be seen in the distance on the right.

Bird of the Day: Hermit Thrush at Pinnacles National Park

THIS was a hard shot. We were in a deep canyon in the very late afternoon. We were tracking a small bird lurking in even darker bushes. I have no idea why this shot came out at all, because there were sixteen attempts that were blurry or unfocused.

Seriously, the bird was in that thicket...

The bird is a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) that was foraging in the brush and poison ivy near the entrance of lower Bear Gulch Caves in Pinnacles National Park. Pinnacles is located in the central California Coast Ranges south of Hollister. It is our nation's newest national park (established in 2013), but it was one of our oldest national monuments, having been declared by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 (parks are established by Congress, monuments by presidential proclamation).