Thrashers are a rare treat in some places. My area used to be lousy with them, but now I only see them rarely. They like human structures, I would find them in my old house, nesting in chimneys, etc. Nice bird.

Thanks! Seeing the nest building 'made my day'! They have seen me around now for quite awhile so hope I can get closer & get a close up of some of the nest material showing in the 'cubbyhole' in the cactus they found to set up residence.Only last year was I ever close enough to verify it did have the orange ring around the eye but the curved bill has always been obvious. Our state bird is the funny looking & acting roadrunner! They mostly run on the ground but do fly a bit & seem to prefer to live around buildings & populations of humans. Can even kill a rattlesnake I've read. One does live in our neighborhood & likes to run on the roof peak of our house & when it sees me w/camera it almost looks like it stops to pose for me!

Speaking of thrushes and thrashers, I thought I might share with you'all pics of a applique/quilted wall hanging I made. It's called "Forest Fragmentation" with a Wood Thrush and her nest. The nest is made of tangled leftover embroidery threads. One of her eggs has been taken by a female Brown-Headed Cowbird, who replaced it with her own spotted egg. (Forest fragmentation makes our deep-woods nesters more open to threats from cowbirds, and the Wood Thrush is often considered the "poster-child" of our declining migratory birds.) One of these days I will have to post pics of my bluebird quilts too. BlueBars

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