By Sally Siko

While birding yesterday morning along the Neuse River, I spied a pair of Brown Thrashers building a nest in a low shrub right next to the trail.
I sat down for a few minutes and watched them gather twigs from the ground and then place the sticks carefully into the new nest.
They both went about this endeavor thoughtfully, arranging and then rearranging the tangle of twigs and grass several times, sometimes squatting and spinning around to press the sides of the nest together juuuuuust right.

One thing that I noticed about this encounter was the fact that the pair was completely silent. No chirps were exchanged between the pair as they moved through the woods.
This makes sense though because they were trying to be sneaky as building a nest requires a bit of discretion on their part.
Nest construction aside, these birds are usually quite noisy as they go about the business of finding their next meal. Often sticking to dense undergrowth, the sounds of scraping of dry leaves and their loud whirring chirps are a distinctive clue that one is nearby.
Primarily a ground foraging species of bird, Using their long, slightly curved bill as a rake, they’ll sweep the leaf litter around to uncover delicacies such as insects, fallen seeds, and berries.

Brown Thrashers are talented mimics too, nearly as talented as their close relative, the Northern Mockingbird.
They boast a wide repertoire of songs which they’ll belt out from the top of the highest tree in the neighborhood letting every other bird know who’s turf they’re on.
Look and listen for these handsome birds throughout the year in the Carolinas in suburban neighborhoods and in areas of deciduous forests that line open fields.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5