Today’s morning walk felt like spring. I swear the blueberry buds became full overnight. At 250′ of elevation or so, we were just above a low-lying fog over the channel. We walked in the sun under clearing skies. On the return trip I heard my first varied thrush of the year.
Most recent years, I’ve traveled in late March and come home to the full chorus of the varied thrush, having missed that first one. Last year, I went nowhere, but somehow they were singing in February.
Varied thrush are cool looking and sounding birds. They remind me of the whistle that would end recess and send elementary students sprinting off the playground; they send my spirit galloping into hopes for spring. Since the varied thrush tend to vocalize early in the morning, they also speak to my primal brain with its memories of fist light spring mornings after chinook, saying “You could catch a fish right now.”
It feels like cheating, since they’re relatively hard to see, but here’s a video of one in action.
And here’s Richard Nelson, expounding on them from some wild place near Sitka.
Cedar didn’t seem overly impressed. Once she got herself out of a tricky spot, she plodded on and used my elated listening stops to revel in the abundance of stuff to chew.
A few images from a beautiful spring day.