Good morning,

All this talk of "missing" Varied Thrushes has provoked me to share this
meager observation.

Somewhere in my blurry October, mid to late month, I tried to explain
the difference between an American Robin and Varied Thrush to my
non-English speaking mother-in-law. I didn't succeed :-( That's when
several field guides with pictures makes a fantastic difference!

However, the point is that there were some half-dozen Varied Thrushes
and dozens of Robins in my Seattle yard (which means they were pretty
densely packed for a while) for a few days, and then they were gone.
Also missing in this flurry of activity were the fruit of the mountain
ash tree that generally persists through January (which I previously
assumed indicated the fruit didn't become palatable until either the
birds were very hungry and cold, or the fruit was ripe to the point of
disintegration), all gulped down by apparently ravenous robins and
thrushes.

I haven't seen a Varied Thrush in Seattle since then.
Michael Patrick - Software Engineer
(425) 743-8204
mpatrick at eldec.com