The Brown Thrasher

A couple of weeks ago I was intrigued by an unfamiliar visitor to our backyard.  He seemed to enjoy picking through the most rugged part of the flower garden and climbing around the filters and electrical connections for the large pond.  It wasn't my favorite spot to take pictures but I knew if I were to ever be able to identify him I'd need some pictures so I got what I could.

Finally tonight as I Googled a more specific description, I hit paydirt.  There's no doubt that he's a Brown Thrasher.  Even the habitat area fits for this is part of the large area that encompasses his summer breeding ground.

One of the most interesting facts about this bird is that they have the largest repertoire of songs of all the North American birds and are able to vocalize 3000 distinct songs.  And in all honesty, I had noticed some particularly unusual birdsongs but attributed them to the tiny house wrens that were nesting in the lilacs.

I was also interested to note that the Brown Thrasher is the official state bird of Georgia but sorry to see that it's population is slowly declining.

Finally I'm excited to have made the identification and I'll be watching to see if he's still around.  Perhaps he was attracted to the meal worms that I scattered around for the robins and bluebirds so I'll toss them out a little more often.

I'm so lucky to have a backyard that seems to be attractive to a wide variety of birds and that I have a digital camera that can capture them for later study.