Beautiful Songster

  The Bayou is home to many critters.  One of my favorites is the Brown Thrasher.  This bird, albeit rather drab in color, has one of the most beautiful songs of any bird.  Many folks have a tendency to think the Northern Mockingbirds are the songsters of the avian world and they are mostly correct. I say mostly since if you are going by song alone and not by sight, it is easy to confuse the two.  The happy trilling and warbling blended with clear, crisp single notes is a characteristic common to the songs of both birds.  Sometimes, it is difficult to distinguish one from another simply by song but I will let you in on a little secret.  The Brown Thrasher repeats its notes or phrases only twice before moving on to another, whereas, a Northern Mockingbird sometimes sticks with repeating a note or phrase three, four or even five times.  Both birds have extensive repertoires of over a thousand sounds!  Hearing the thrasher's song never fails to bring a smile plus the birds are attentive to each other's needs and will actually share their meals.

  Earlier, I was out meandering the hillside when I came across a sad sight.  The pair of Brown Thrashers was under the old, oak tree.  This was unusual since I knew that they had a nest full of eggs in the groundsel bush near the pier.  Either one or the other was always sitting on the four eggs in the nest.  Seeing them together and away from the nest stirred a thought.  I had to go check.  Sure enough, the nest had been raided!  No eggs could be found!  The sweet couple had lost their brood before it had even hatched.  Either the recent visit by the marauding crows was to blame or a snake had found the nest. Either way, I was not alert enough to divert the slaughter of the little family.  Now my sweet friends had to start anew.

  Hopefully, the thrashers will choose a nest site a bit closer to the house and away from the marsh.  It is hard for me to keep an eye on the happenings when I am not nearby.  This evening, the male thrasher came to sit on the gate post to sing his lovely song.  His ladylove was stirring around in the jasmine arbor.  How nice would it be to have them nest there!