Wood Thrush have Arrived

For you city dwellers, you are probably not familiar with the wood thrush. It is a reclusive bird, but its song is beautiful. I hope that you will take a moment to listen to the audio file at the link.

In VA, the wood thrush arrives this late third/early fourth week in April. On Monday, we heard the first warbling. They are a bit intermittent in their song, as they are busy building nests. They'll settle into a rhythm that one can count upon.

What is interesting, is that the song is a bit different each year. In fact, the one's that we hear, are different than is what on the audio file. I suppose it's a dialect thing. I mention this bird's beautiful song because it is one of the earliest risers, beginning its melodious song before the sun rises. Between 8-9 p.m. it is particularly active, and we enjoy sitting on the deck and listening to them answering each other's calls. After a summer's worth of listening to this, when they leave--and it is pretty suddenly, though you'll hear a lone straggler calling out without any answer--the conspicuous absence of their singing is quite sad. If I were to lose my hearing, the one sound that I would miss most (I know that I should say my children's or husband's voices), it would be the song of the wood thrush.