wood thrush
Field Notes
~ by Jim Eagleman
Ee-oh-lay … oh-lay-ee … followed by a soft, fast rattle, like a distant drum.
My wife Kay and her sister Kris got up early on one of these recent spring days, and with a cup of coffee in hand, took a walk in our woods.
Kay heard the unmistakable flutelike song of the wood thrush filtering through the lower canopy of the forest. You can usually hear it before seeing it. Kay and Kris stood still hoping for a quick glance. Not that morning, but the song was enough.
With a burst of excitement Kay yelled,“ It’ s back, right on schedule.”
Many birders and plant enthusiasts record their“ First of the Year”( FOY) occurrences in field notebooks in order to compare with previous years. It’ s part of the enjoyment of experiencing the arrivals.
The greening up of this vast Brown County forest is happening now, and the wood thrush a main character.
Wood thrushes are reclusive songbirds with cinnamon brown upperparts— good camouflage as they scramble for leaf-litter invertebrates. Its scientific name is hylocichla mustelina and translates to“ weasel-colored woodland thrush.” Described as a forest interior bird, it is unlikely it will come to any of our feeders. It may pop upright to peer about, revealing a boldly spotted white breast, the mark of other thrushes in its family. Eastern bluebirds and the American robin are also thrushes and display a speckled breast at some point in their lives.
Remarkably, the wood thrush returns to our woods faithfully after more than 40 years. When we were building our home, we were fearful the thrush would soon find our intrusion disturbing and move on. Wouldn’ t a house and driveway, daily commotion and movement discourage it? It appears to be tolerant and resilient in response to changes in its habitat.
The long journey that the bird makes twice a year is no easy task. It overwinters in Panama and migrates through southern Mexico, moving up through the southern states. Its range occupies most of the U. S. east of the Great Plains. This long distant“ neo-tropic” migrant has undoubtedly encountered more and more challenges over time.
The trip takes several weeks and the thrush fuels up along
64 Our Brown County May / June 2026