Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 16
Varied Thrush
Heinrich von Kittlitz, 1832
Bird

Varied Thrush

Ixoreus naevius
Thrushes and Allies (Turdidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A robin-shaped thrush in burnt orange and slate blue, with a black breast band, an orange eyebrow and orange wing bars: a robin that went to art school.
Male & female
The female is a softer, browner version with a greyer, less distinct breast band.
Voice
A single, long, eerie buzzing whistle on one pitch, then another on a different pitch after a pause, like someone tuning a radio in a wet forest at dawn. Once heard, never confused.
Diet
Insects and worms on the forest floor in summer; berries and seeds in winter.
Habitat
Dense, dark, mossy conifer forest; comes down to lowland gardens in winter, especially in cold snaps.
Nesting
A bulky cup of twigs and moss low in a conifer; 3–4 eggs.
Size
8–10 in long, 2½–3½ oz: about a deck of cards.

Common here all year by the range model, but far more conspicuous from October to March when mountain birds come down to the lowlands.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 6 calls on 2 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

1200:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 2 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 2 calls910:00 — 1 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 1 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
23Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 3 callsOct 30 — 0 callsOct 31 — 3 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 29 9:05 am · 99% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 29 7:52 am · 90% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The varied thrush is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Ixoreus.
From Wikipedia, "Varied thrush", CC BY-SA 4.0.