| Most bird watchers agree that the wood thrush's call ranks superior to all others, with the possible exception of the hermit thrush. For local bird watchers this would be difficult to judge as the hermit thrush is a northern bird, seldom seen in our area. Personally, I would have to flip a coin to choose between the wood thrush and the rose-breasted grosbeak.
Because of its size, the wood thrush is sometimes confused with the brown thrasher. But the thrush is typically a woodland species with a short tail; the thrasher occupies more open, shrubby areas and has a very long tail.
Thrushes spend most of their time on the forest floor searching for food much like their close relatives, the robins. Their nest, very similar in construction to the robin's, is usually between five and ten feet from the ground. The four or five blue eggs hatch in about twelve days and the young fledge in about ten days. Two or three broods are raised per season.
By mid-July the voices of most birds tend to fade with the season. But toward evenings the wood thrush often appears near the edge of the forest and in the twilight, his heavenly strains permeate the falling hush.
Length 7 inches
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