> Usually I see a few Varied Thrush at our place (elev. 650') when the snow
> gets down to just above us. This year I have seen none even when the snow
> gets down to us.

Alan,

I think they are visiting us this year. We had 4 males and 2 females today.
They fly from branch to ground near all our feeders. Since we had 14
inches of snow last Monday, then rain on Thursday and woke up to 16
inches this am, they have been eating the suet. They take turns with the
male downy woodpecker and male flicker. Sometimes, they wait their turn
on the neighboring trees. I am making sure the suet feeder if filled to the
top as the thrushes sit on top and point down to eat. They flicker and
downey start at the bottom and go up. Of course, the red-breasted
nuthatches, black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees sit anywhere
and everywhere even while the others are feeding.

This is the first year we've had feeders and had seen some varied thrushes
a couple of years ago. But I'd never heard their song. So beautiful, but
sometimes reminds me of a cell phone ringing! or an accordion! They were
particularly noisy today as we sat next to our fire pit with snow
everywhere, the sun shining, beautiful blue sky and SNOWING! It was
awesome. The most I'd seen at one time was 1 female and 3 males. I think
the others invaded today because of the snow. They are such beautiful
birds.

The ravens have been out the past couple of days, too. Once they were
accompanied by a hawk. They left by the time I got my binocs, so couldn't
identify it, but it had a red breast and was huge. They must be having a
hard time finding prey.

Take care,
Nancy
1500ft up the west side of Mt. Hood