Oops, that's Gary Bletsch. Please blame insomnia for my mistake, and thanks
to the person who corrected me!

Blythe Horman, Lynnwood

On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 6:02 PM Blythe Horman <blythe.horman at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Thanks everyone for your research on this, especially Robert Bletsch for

> looking at historical records in books. I have seen varied thrushes very

> occasionally during the spring and summer, and my conclusion parallels

> Robert's direct quotes. That is, Varied Thrushes nested in the Puget Sound

> Lowlands until urbanization destroyed their habitat. Then, like many

> animals, they were forced to breed in more inaccessible, mountainous areas.

> Also like many animals, in the last 10-25 years, some individuals have

> begun to return to the lowlands to attempt breeding. How successful this

> will be remains to be seen. Are there banding records available?

>

> I think this recolonization of suburban areas is not an uncommon

> phenomenon. That's why we now have human-wildlife interaction experts, in

> the hopes of resolving conflicts with particularly charismatic or feared

> animals such as cougars, bears, and coyotes without the old method of

> simply killing the animal.

>

> As another example of a large, noticeable animal recolonizing degraded

> habitat, look at the humpback whale in Puget Sound. Unheard of when I moved

> here in 1991, they are now common enough to be feature prominently in whale

> watching tour advertising.

>

> I assume many birds (and other small native wildlife) are attempting to

> recolonize historical lowland breeding areas, but since they're not

> particularly charismatic or usually problematic to non-birders, they don't

> get much, if any, mainstream notice. They fly under under the radar, as it

> were.

>

>

>