Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Hermit Thrush

The beautiful Hermit Thrush can be identified from other spotted thrushes by its complete narrow white eye ring, as well as its contrasting reddish tail.  It chooses drier and brushier habitat than most of the other thrushes, foraging upon the ground and can generally be located in habitat similar to the Swainson's Thrush.

There are three distinct subspecies, which include the Taiga or Eastern, Interior West, and the Pacific.  The hardy Eastern birds have thicker bills with pale buffy tips on greater coverts, stocky, and brightly colored.  Interior West are pale and grayer with very limited red wash on the flight feathers.  The Pacific are more spotted than the Eastern, thinner billed than all of them, with white undertail coverts.

The voice is like that of most spotted thrushes, an ethereal flued whistle without the clear rising and falling, which is due to the syrinx, the double vocal organ at the base of the bird trachea.  The thrushes have some of the most advanced organs in the world, leading to a dual sound, much like the ability of the twelve string guitar.

                                                                   Hermit Thrush
                                                NW Corner Payne County CBC, 2017

The most hardy of the thrushes, this passerine migrates earlier in the spring and returns to its home base later in the fall in late September-October.  It is likely the only thrush to be found in most of the US in the winter.  Those that do migrate will be in flight overnight, except the Pacific Northwest, which usually remains there.  This thrush is more related to the Mexican Russet Nightingale-Thrush than to its own US family members, and usually can be found singing from a high perch.

Often found during the Christmas Bird Count, this unusual bird of never ending wonder has been described in many written works.

East of the Rockies, this bird is usually a ground nester, and West of the Rockies, it nests in trees.  This neotropical migrants finds its way as far south as Central America in the winter.

To See Interior West Hermit Thrush and Birds of Arizona:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/05/birding-on-shoestring-wilds-of-arizona.html

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Bewick's Wren

Three subspecies comprise this species--Eastern, Southwest, and Pacific.  The Southwest is paler (grayer), Eastern is unmarked brown with a pale gray belly, and the Pacific has a gray belly with a lengthy white supercilium.

The tail is more often held upward and flicked sideways which will show the white corners, especially when the species is in flight.  It is thinner than the Carolina Wren and not nearly as colorful.  Its syrinx allows it nearly two dozen melodies depending upon its range.

Preferring  river and streamside, hedgerows, parks, farmhouses, suburbia with trees, and open woodland with thick undergrowth, this gentle bird appears tame and is quite approachable.  It is rarely more than ten feet above ground while gleaning insects from leaves, tree trunks and branches.  It blends into its surroundings quite well, so it could be difficult to see, unless it is a singing male atop a tree.

                                                                  Bewick's Wren
                                                       Boomer Lake Park, Dec. 2016

This cavity nester will choose old woodpecker holes, sheds, abandoned buildings, birdhouses, tree cavities, etc.  These sites are similar to those of the House Wren, which is more aggressive and will easily evict the Bewick's Wren if it so chooses.

It is strictly an insectivore, most interested in larvae, spiders, eggs, assorted insects, and small invertebrates.

They reside year round in the west and central states.  Once the House Wren has migrated in the fall, Bewick's Wren may choose to overnight in its former nest cavity.  What few are in the east will migrate between September and October to early November.  It is suspected that both Carolina and House Wrens may have driven it away for the most part from eastern regions due to their more dominant natures.

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Gray Catbird

This video on assorted avian mimicked voices was a remarkable rendition by a California Gray Catbird.  Never have I heard such accomplished material, for this is what I would expect from an older bird that has seen many breeding seasons.  A bird like this could easily have his choice of mates, for a female would easily realize how special he really is for the valuable syrinx that he has.

A uniform gray bird with a black cap, long black tail and rufous undertail coverts, this is a gorgeous and remarkable bird once it opens its mouth.

Common to uncommon in brushy thickets in woods, along forest edges, parks, often in damp shaded areas, as well as generally solitary.  However, the exception is when the male sings from an exposed perch to attract a female or protect his territory.  This species forages at ground level for berries, insects, and other invertebrates.

                                                                 Gray Catbird
                                                        South Padre Island, TX 2015

Mimic thrushes like this are talented, as well as natural mimics, and one of ten in the Mimidae family.  The harsh mew of this bird is especially diagnostic in the field, especially if heard near the ground.  Females also sing, though rarely, and not nearly at as much of a volume.  Catbirds, like Northern Mockingbirds, often sing at night.

Rather tame, it will respond readily to pishing calls and will come quite near.

Catbirds are late spring migrants, arriving on breeding grounds from May to June, and fall migration is between late August and September.  Birds residing on the coast sometimes choose not to migrate.

The Brown-headed Cowbird parasitizes this species, but may not in Oklahoma.  In other locations, the female simply ejects cowbird eggs.  The territoriality of the Grey Catbird is restricted to the area of the nest site.  The female does most of the nest building, though the male will provide the supplies.  He will even actually point out possible sites by sitting on branches and moving twigs about as though constructing a nest.  Incubation is solely by the female.  The male doesn't feed her very much during this time.  The species is known to double brood.

061718 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/lifestyles/birding-today-birds-have-astounding-song-capabilities/article_1e1928d6-ef3a-5abd-a16b-d70a445c4b9b.html