Now that most of the snow has melted, robins are everywhere. They may be the most noticeable thrush around, but they aren’t the only ones. Because of the long lasting winter, other migrants have stacked up in the area, waiting for the snow to clear out. We’ve had an abundance of hermit thrushes too, which are smaller than robins and have the typical spotted breast like many thrushes. Adult robins don’t have the spots, but juveniles do. And bluebirds are another type of thrush most people are familiar with (juveniles also have a spotted breast.) They are probably the three most common species of thrush we have in this area, another one is Swainson’s thrush which I’ve also seen in my yard before. These three species were all hunting in a front yard at the end of my street, which is a large grassy area, more open than my yard. There were several robins, two hermit thrushes and one bluebird.

I took the opportunity to get some photos in the nice morning light. Unfortunately someone in the neighborhood must have thought the sight of a car parked along the road with a big camera lens aimed out the driver side window was very suspicious, because eventually the cops showed up and wanted to check my ID!