Hello Ruth - Congrats on the visitation! I wouldn't despair that
something "not for the good" is happening with Varied thrushes!
Varied thrush is sometimes (always?) an "irruptive" species, meaning
there may be plenty one year, followed by years of one or none. A CBC
in Santa Barbara CA [ at 1978 or later] turned up at 430 of each Hermit
and Varied - normally a few dozen Hermit and zero to a couple Varied
is the "norm" for that count circle [of course, I don't expect that
high a count in THAT circle anytime soon, whether or not there is
nothing to worry about!] It is exciting to get a few, like we did
last spring at our feeder and at the apple trees, while snow
persisted in shadows! - Jim, Thompson Falls MT

At 01:02 PM 1/23/2010, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:
>Hello Tweeters,
>Never expected any Varied Thrushes this Winter.But today I had my first male
>Varied Thrush this Season.We always had so many of this species,some of them
>coming as early October.But listen around hearing other birders had the
>same.Last Year on the CBC in Grays Harbor we had high count,there where
>every where.Something is changing and it is probable not for the good.
>
>Ruth Sullivan
>Fircrest,Tacoma