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First Brown Thrasher

claireplymouth z6b coastal MA

13 years ago

I saw the first Brown Thrasher of the season today. I think there's lots of worms around, at least according to the robin which comes every day. I also put suet dough nuggets out every morning so that should please the thrasher (someone on this forum told me about the suet dough last year).

Claire

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Comments (9)

tmff
13 years ago
I love their cinnamon brown color.
catherinet
13 years ago
I love their joyful talk from the top of the trees. :)
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Very nice! I saw my first Brown Thrasher of the season on April 16, and the first catbird on May 2, so there was about a two week delay. I'm in southeast MA. Thrashers bred here last year, but I didn't see them most of the time. The catbirds, on the other hand, are in my face every day eating grape jam. Claire
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This really has become the year of the thrashers. Per Donna's suggestion, I've been putting out C&S Peanut suet nuggets. I don't know if the thrashers eat it - I haven't seen it - but it's disappearing. There's plenty of other food around and insects too. My yard/garden is getting more and more overgrown so there are lots of hiding places for birds in shrubs and small trees. I'll walk by a shrub not noticing any birds and be startled by flight all around me. Good for the birds, not so good for the idea of a tidy garden. An adult has been seen brazenly foraging around most days, and yesterday I saw what I think are two juveniles calmly preening on the winterberry (the photos were taken from the kitchen window). So much for the "secretive" Brown Thrasher. Claire
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Comments (3)
Thanks! It just pleased me to see a bird that's usually very secretive suddenly come forward and enjoy itself in front of the camera. The sand and stones was an afterthought - I live in New England and it's always a pain to get a pole into the ground in between the subsurface rocks. Being on the coast, I have plenty of sand and stones. It's pouring rain now, and it must be hard for the hummers to get nectar from flowers or find insects. They're fighting over the feeder which has an umbrella over it so it's reasonably dry. Sort of like sitting on the porch with a drink watching the rain. Claire
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dzyg
13 years ago
Love the Thrashers and yes they love peanut butter suet dough! Can't wait for them to return to my area.
gardener365
13 years ago
I saw one 7-10 days ago, too, Claire. The happy days of spring are here.

Nice shot.

Dax
vieja_gw
13 years ago
For the past three years we have had lots of the curve bill thrashers (orange around eye) that we have never seen before. The one 'couple' have built a 2-story nest in our tree cactus & have taken over the whole yard now! They drink from the fish pond or any of the six birdbaths around the yard & love to sit up high in our 40 ft. red cedar tree & converse! They are not afraid & will chase our neighbor's squirrel away from the bird feeders ... so funny to watch! They seem to be ground feeders also & often on the ground under the fruit trees searching for some 'edibles'!.

We are in the high desert at 2000 ft. !
rebeccah_2009
13 years ago
i had several brown thrashers here up until about 2 wks ago and I haven't seen them since. I don't know what happened to them
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
Original Author
13 years ago
vieja: A thrasher that chases squirrels? I could really use a few of your Curve-billed Thrashers to scare away the squirrel posse. I googled them, but it doesn't look like a bird that lives in the high desert in the southwest could be easily convinced to move to the southeast Massachusetts coast.

Claire (sigh)
vieja_gw
13 years ago
From the photo of the thrasher by claire, I guess the thrashers we have here in New Mexico are a different variety; ours here have a dusty brown body-no stripes, darker back & wings, but has the very distinctive orange ring in the eyes! These that began with just one pair a few years ago that foraged on the ground under our trees, now we have a couple dozen or more in our yard/area & have become very fearless around other birds as well as our four dogs! I can get right up to their nests & 'talk' to them & they show no fear of me (or the squirrel!) at all. Haven't figured out yet why the seemingly first pair built the 2-story apt. in the tree cactus!! Sure is a secure place to nest I admit!

We often get a new variety of birds for awhile, then they disappear only to have another variety come; the thrashers seem to have replaced the grackles pretty much the past two years in my yard.... yet the mourning doves seem here to stay!
gardener365
13 years ago
They were all over the ground today in IL after the torrential rains.

Dax

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