Rough Travel?

Typically, birds that migrate into our area for the breeding season, arrive in really nice condition. They have had several months to recover from last season’s reproduction stress. However, this Brown Thrasher looks more like a bird at the end of Autumn, not early Spring; quite scruffy. Still, I very much appreciate that it landed in a small patch of sun that made its way through an otherwise very dimly lit scrubby area.

This species doesn’t live here year round, but it also doesn’t travel to the lush, warm tropics for the winter. Rather, its northern most non-breeding zone is just a couple hundred miles south of us. If the southeastern US has a tough winter, I suppose so would the Brown Thrashers.

I filmed this next Brown Thrasher in nearly the same location as the bird above. Perhaps they are mates. S/he appears to be in better condition.