For a number of years a Brown Thrasher has made a tradition of
singing from certain trees in my yard. In early to mid May he sings
from their very tops, which overlook about 30 acres of abandoned
orchards on the hillside below. The show is pretty much over before
June comes in. From this I've guessed that nesting has gotten
underway somewhere in the shrub-tangled orchards below. So I was
surprised this year when he suddenly reappeared on his springtime
lookouts in the third week of June, very prominently singing. I
guessed something had gone wrong. It turned out that my neighbor had
rented a baby backhoe and torn up a few acres of shrubs in the
farthest part of the orchard - at the peak of nesting season, no less!
Whether my resurgent Thrasher lost his brood to this ill-timed
habitat modification I don't know. I thought it was getting kind of
late to start over, but he still seems keen. This morning he was
singing from very prominent perches, and I watched him for a while.
Then I wandered a short way down the hill. I was having a peek at
some Blue Jays feeding young, when behind me I heard loud smacking
notes, and there was another Brown Thrasher moving about in the
shrubbery, eyeing me nervously. Good sign! And I can hear that
delightful singing again out the window as I write this.
-Geo
Geo Kloppel
Bowmaker & Restorer
227 Tupper Road
Spencer NY 14883
607 564 7026
g...@cornell.edu
geoklop...@gmail.com
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