By Bruce Fischer

Not all bird migrations follow a North-South path. Some birds migrate up and down. Elevation changes can bring as much of a change in weather as the typical migration pattern. As the snow melts in the mountains it opens up areas perfect for some of the hardier forest birds to nest. One such bird is the Varied Thrush. While a few stick around in the lowlands during the summer, Varied Thrushes are primarily a winter bird in our local lowland forests.

A member of the Thrush family the Varied Thrush is closely related to the American Robin. In fact, it's sometimes called the Oregon Robin because of it's Pacific Northwest only range and resemblance to the more widespread American Robin. Like another relative, the Swainson's Thrush, it prefers wet coniferous forests and that is something we have in abundance in Grays Harbor and the Pacific Northwest.

Varied Thrush is a fairly easy bird to identify. They are large (9 ½ inches) and spend a good deal of time on the ground or low in trees searching for food. Like the American Robin they have dark backs and reddish-orange breasts. But where the robin has a white eye-ring and dark head the Varied Thrush has a reddish-orange head with a black eyestripe and crown. Varied Thrushes also have 2 orange wing bars and a broad black breast band. Females are identified by being much paler than the males.

Their nests are the stereotypically cup-shaped nest on a branch against a tree. A typical brood is 3 eggs although they may have as many as 5. The female incubates the eggs for about 2 weeks and then after they fledge she commonly has a second brood. If you do come across a Varied Thrush nest please be careful. Even a small disturbance often leads to them abandoning their nest.

They are still found in fairly good, though highly variable, numbers and are not considered a species of concern. Interestingly the Breeding Bird Survey done in the summer shows them slightly increasing in number but Christmas Bird Counts done in the winter show them slightly decreasing. The discrepancy is probably more an indication of a flawed survey system than a sign of rising immature mortality, but something to think about.

Pretty soon Varied Thrushes will be found in most woods around Grays Harbor. The best place to see one is on one of the two Grays Harbor Christmas Bird Counts. In 1997 425 were seen on the western Grays Harbor count but the average is 137. The more participants we have the more accurate the results will be. Please consider joining a Christmas Bird Count this winter even if the only bird you can identify is Crow.