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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Veery peek-a-boo


Right next to our front door in a big viburnum shrub yesterday, was this Veery, peering out at me. I thought it was just about to ring the doorbell. What a beautiful thrush! You can see the cinnamon malar streaks (the two lines coming down at an angle off either side of the bill) nicely in this, facing you, photo. I love the intimate look and the lovely feather detail of the chest spots against the buffy upper breast. Veerys, Wood and Hermit Thrushes breed in the woods around us. Not many come to our front door.

4 comments:

LNMP298 said...

How adorable! Nice of him to drop by. :)

Years ago, I had a Wood Thrush show up right in front of our house - the first one I'd ever seen! I managed to get a picture of him as sat on the concrete underneath our azaleas.

Kevin said...

The Veery in our yard is presumably the same individual who has returned for the last several years, based on what seems like atypical behavior for this species: this bird frequently forages on the ground around the birch tree where I scatter seed. Granted, this area is at the edge of the woods, but seeing a Veery foraging on the ground among Juncos, Chipping Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and Red-winged Blackbirds (plus squirrels and chipmunks) seems a bit odd. I assume the Veery is feasting on invertebrate prey rather than the seed itself.

Jenny said...

Beautiful!

Dan Huber said...

great photos. so far i have only heard the veery this spring - not able to see one yet.

dan