Varied Thrush

The varied thrush is a robin sized bird that breeds in western Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern United States. On their breeding territory they typically forage for insects on the forest floor. During the winter birds that nest in Alaska and Canada migrate south down along the Pacific Coast primarily to California. During the fall and winter they forage in loose flocks eating berries, fruit, acorns and nuts. Once in a while one of these birds gets mixed up during migration and ends up here in Minnesota. This bird spent a winter in Roseville, MN where it mixed in with a small flock of robins. It was very popular with the birders here in Minnesota. 

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Camera Critters: Varied Thrush

Birders in the Twin Cities have been pretty excited for the last week because of the sighting of a varied thrush in one of the northern suburbs. The thrush was first reported this weekend, and it has been visiting a couple of crab apple trees, located in a residential yard in Roseville, MN, on a regular basis through out the week.
I decided to run up to Roseville after work on Monday. The weather that day was pretty miserable, with overcast skies and drizzle that turned into cold rain, so I was not sure that I would be able to get any pics, but since we do not often see varied thrush in Minnesota I decided that it was definitely worth a try.

When I arrived at the location that the bird had been spotted there were already several other birders there, including Sharon Stiteler the Birdchick, the bird was in the crab apple trees along with a few robins. Unfortunately before I could get set up for a shot a passing car spooked the birds and they all flew off. Since most everyone else had already had good looks of the bird they all decided to leave but I stayed hoping that the bird would return.

About 15 to 20 minutes later a couple of robins came back to the crab apples, which got my hopes up, and then in flew the thrush. The thrush flew to the back side of the tree but I was able to find a position to shoot through the branches. Since the lighting was so bad I had to turn my ISO up to 800 and open up my aperture so that I could get enough light. Because of this the pictures are a bit washed but they I was happy with them considering the conditions. If he sticks around for a bit perhaps I will have an opportunity to photograph him in the sun and get some better pics, but since the varied thrush is a west coast bird and they do not often come to our part of the country I am happy just to have the pics that I got.