It's Not Really Spring 'til The Thrushes Sing F O C U S O N N A T U R E O U T D O O R S

April 14, 1985|by TOM FEGELY, Sunday Call-Chronicle

There's a sound I still haven't heard in the woods behind my home. It's the call of the wood thrush and until I hear it, the arrival of spring won't be official.

That's a personal viewpoint, of course, despite the blooms of coltsfoot and bloodroot along the roadsides and the ever-increasing array of other birdlife flittering in and through the Lehigh Valley. Somehow the spring woodlands don't seem alive until the wood thrush sends forth its flute-like warble, considered by many folks, this writer included, as the most beautiful birdsong in the greening land.

The wood thrush along with several of its cousins inhabit most of the Call-Chronicle region in the warm months, nesting primarily in woodlots and forests. Of course the best-known thrush, the American robin, is catholic in its choices of nest sites and will build its mud-lined nursery anywhere from atop a traffic light to a deep-woods thicket.

The Eastern bluebird is also a member of the thrush family, confining its nest locations to orchards, farmlands and open meadows - especially where nest boxes have been provided for them.

Today's focus, however, is on the handsome wood thrush and its woodland cousins.

Here's how to identify them, by sight or sound.

Locally, the wood, hermit, Swainson's and gray-cheeked thrushes, and the veery, are found. The gray-cheeked is the most rare of the quintet hereabouts. They all share the common characteristics of being slightly smaller than robins with dark eyes, spotted breasts, olive-brown to rust colorations, and robin-like silhouettes.

Sighting any or all in the shadowed forest requires some knowledge of the specific field marks of each. The wood thrush, the best known of the five, has large, brown spots on a white breast. A good view of this bird will also reveal a rusty head.

The hermit thrush, also abundant, looks very much like the wood thrush except for its breast spots being not quite as distinct and its tail showing a definite rust-colored tint.

The Swainson's thrush is decidedly brownish in head, back and tail plumage. The verifying field mark is a buff-colored face and eye ring.

The veery is entirely rust-colored from head to tail with its breast spots being less distinct and confined more toward the upper breast region.

The gray-cheeked thrush has, as its name implies, gray cheeks. It may be confused with the Swainson's except for the lack of an eye ring.

Of course, the best way to make a positive identification is by carrying a good field guide such as Peterson's A Field Guide To The Birds or the Golden Press Birds of North America handbook. Unless viewed in good light, through binoculars, all of the spotted thrushes are easily confused.

The other way to identify them, as they're typically more often heard than seen, is through their varied yet similar calls. Admittedly, I have difficulty doing this myself and the best way to tune in to the disimilarities of their songs is by purchasing a tape or record of bird calls. Some bird books (such as the Golden Press guide) use sonagrams, visual reproductions of bird songs made by a sound spectograph to aid the birder in accurately identifying the maker of the music. Without practice in listening to the birds, then interpreting the sonagrams, however, they are difficult to use.

Even more difficult is trying to describe the subtleties in words, although to the learned ear the differing notes and tones are as distinctive as the feathers of the individual species. This is especially true with the thrushes who all have the ability to produce rich, harmonic tones that can best be described as 'flute-like."

The masters of the art are the wood and hermit thrushes. Later this month, when the spring gobbler season gets underway and dawn finds me in the deep woods, hunkered against a broad tree, the sight of the sun is enhanced by the call of the wood thrush. It greets the dawn with its familiar ee-oh-lee, ee- oh-lay notes, sounding ever so much like that of a flutist. Even before daybreak the concert begins, continuing through the early morning hours until finally dwindling as the sun reaches its zenith. Again, near nightfall, the concert resumes.

The hermit thrush rivals its cousin in singing abilities; being dubbed by some birders as "the American nightingale" for its vocal talents. Any attempt to describe it here would be futile, save for the mention that it, too, is flute-like but typically performed with only a single note followed by a rapid series of rising and falling notes. The "hermit," a name fittingly applied because of its reclusive lifestyle, spends the warm season greeting dawn and dusk with its haunting melodies.

The perchance sighting of a hermit thrush will reveal its habit of slowly raising its tail several times a minute, as if possessed of some nervous twitch.

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