Song Thrushes

After not having seen almost any in six years, in recent days I have seen plenty. Where do all the song thrushes come from? Is it the prolonged freezing conditions that has driven them out into the open? Could it be that the lovely sunshine that we enjoyed for several days, has softened the ground and thereby made the earth worms more active?

That was a lot of questions, but the fact is that I have seen this very specific behaviour on display at the bottom of the garden where the lawn has not been overrun by moss.

When the song thrushes move around among the dead leaves of last year, they are very well camouflaged. Against the green grass, in particular if they are moving, they are much easier to spot.

At first I thought they all behaved like young birds, a little lost, not knowing what to do, but then I realised what they were up to.

After a few quick steps they stand still, then move quickly before another stop. It is a constant stop-start with mostly long moments of standing absolutely still.

When I enlarged some of the pictures that I took, I had proof of what was happening. They were feeding; listening for worms in the ground and then pulling out their wriggling reward.