It was unusually cold when I set out this morning to go shooting, about 18 degrees F (minus 8 C). I always worry about birds in the wild being able to survive when it gets this cold, but somehow they manage.
As I was walking along the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park, I spotted a bird in the distance bobbing up in a tree. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I got closer and could see that the bird was reaching up to grab some red berries that were just above its head.
At first I thought that this was an immature American Robin, but the more I look at the photos, the more I think that it is probably a different bird species. I would welcome assistance in identifying this mystery bird that obviously was berry hungry.
UPDATE: Thanks to several knowledgeable folks on Facebook, I have learned that the bird is a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) and the plant with the berries is an American Bittersweet vine (Celastrus scandens).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Fabulous photos, Mike! What a magnificent bird!
Thanks, Pete. I was thrilled that I was able to capture the bird’s action, given that I was shooting almost straight up.
I’m wondering if this might be a wood thrush. They’re omnivorous, and will eat berries in the fall and winter. That looks like bittersweet it’s eating. It’s one of my favorite fall plants, and apparently very appealing to birds.
Great shot and colours Mike!
Thanks, Chris. I love the way that the colors are subdued in most of the elements, which makes the red berries really pop.
Exquisite photo, Mike. On the west coast we have hermit thrushes, and beautiful berries; but there isn’t one branch of bittersweet here, so this is a real treat to behold. The lines in the thrush’s chest so nicely parallel the branches.
Thanks, Jet. One of my Facebook readers commented to me that this is not American bittersweet, but is Oriental Bittersweet, an invasive species. Ir was interesting trying to get these shots, but fortunately the bird seemed to be distracted by its feeding that it was not initially spooked by my presence.
Huntley Meadows Park been berry, berry good to us, Mike! I have never seen a Hermit Thrush — is it a migratory species?
If I read the range map correctly, it may be a species that winters in our area. I too had never seen one and had to seek assistance in one of the birding groups on Facebook to identify it.
Wow, great shots, Mike. Wood Thrush and Hermit Thrush look a lot alike (to me), but Hermits have a longer and very rusty tail than the Wood Thrush does.
Thanks, Sue, for the additional information. Someone else pointed out that the Hermit Thursh is the only one that would be this far north at this time of the year, though range can be somewhat variable in my experience and is not necessarily diagnostic.
I like Hermit Thrush, too. Facial marking isn’t right for Wood Thrush, and you’d likely see Hermit Thrush in winter (pretty common out west now, too). Nice it let you get close enough to photograph, too.
Thanks, Joe. “Close” is a relative term–when I am shooting with my 150-600mm lens, things sometimes appear closer than they really are.
[…] I was surprised to discover that I had photographed one in December 2016 eating berries—here is a link to that posting. At that time I could not identify the species and asked for assistance. I guess I […]