Last week I took a break from exploring Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and hiked about in Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia. According to Wikipedia, this park is the largest protected natural area in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region at over 16,000 acres. I went lighter than usual with my camera gear, carrying only my Canon SX50 superzoom camera, because I knew that I would be doing a lot of walking on hilly forest trails, which fortunately were well-marked with signs and colored blazes on the trees.
I did not see much wildlife, but was quite happy to capture these shots of a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) that was poking about in the underbrush. The shape of the Hermit Thrush reminds me of that of the American Robin, another bird in the greater thrush family, though, of course, the breast of the Hermit Thrush lacks the distinctive reddish-orange color of the robin.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
It’s too early to be posting pics! 😀😀
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It’s never too early. I am getting ready to go out with my camera soon. 🙂
I have not heard our hermit thrush yet. I have never seen one- only heard it. It has the coolest song, like a flute trill echoing in a canyon. Great pictures!
Great capture, Mike. I’ve never seen that bird before.
I grew up in Vermont, US.  This is our state flag, and our state bird, hermit thrush.  Looks a bit different from yours.  âºï¸
Cheryl (rugby843.blog)
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Wow. I had no idea that Vermont’s state bird is the Hermit Thrush, though I suspect there are lots of hermits in the state. 🙂 As for the appearance, angles and lighting and age and gender can really alter the appearance of a bird. For that reason, many identification guides rely on paintings rather than photographs.