While doing the breeding bird survey recently, I happened to notice a thrush land in a tree across from where I was about to start counting. It hopped around a little bit, and then settled in. It took me a moment to realize that the bird must have a nest that it was sitting in. During the three minute count, I noticed a second bird come in by the nest, but I wasn’t paying close enough attention to their interaction to tell whether they swapped places. The nest is right in the midst of a large thicket of salmonberries. The berries are just starting to turn ripe, so there will probably be plenty to eat when the young hatch. This is one of only a very few nests I’ve found before there were begging young.
Questions:
- Is this a Hermit or Swainson’s Thrush? (at the time I was thinking Swainson’s, but I’m not quite so sure from the photos). Better pictures later reveal Swainson’s Thrush
- How long will it be before nestlings hatch out? Still sitting as of 22 June
- How does a thrush choose where it nests? (this one seemed kind of out in the open – at least it was visible from the street, though if I hadn’t seen the bird settle in, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it)
