Lady Varied Thrush

This gallery contains 2 photos. This gorgeous lady came and stayed for three days in mid-November. She confined her peregrinations to the front of the house, (unintentionally) posing on the pyracantha bush on the front lawn, as she feasted from for this water-beaded shot, which I took from 12-15 feet away — the closest I have gotten to a female Varied Thrush. She is my first sighting of a Varied Thrush this fall, and I saw her male counterpart about a week later in the backyard. Photographed on a rainy November 14.

a slightly drenched, breathtaking beauty in brown and orange
f/14, 1/125, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1600, flash on 

Unlike their cousins, those saucy American Robins, Varied Thrushes are very shy around humans (and, given their territorial nature, quite solitary, although last winter, we had four in the backyard at the same time). It’s a sobering thought that these beautiful birds are especially vulnerable to window strikes. We have lost at least three over the past three years, and have made a conscious decision to keep the drapes closed and the windows marked with painter’s tape. Varied Thrushes are another bird species in significant decline, thanks to predators like cats and diminishing old growth forest habitats. Photographed on a sunny November 15. This pretty lady stayed for one more day.

she’s wandering over the neighbour’s planks (yes, I saw the exposed nail afterwards … ouch!)
f/11, 1/60, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1600, flash on

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