While birding at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs NC yesterday, I was lucky enough to spot 6 Hermit Thrushes along the trail within just a few minutes.
This was exciting because I’d never seen so many in one place before!

With that soft reddish buff brown plumage paired with a speckled white breast, these little birds are simply lovely.
Even more so is their incredible song! They sound something like a flute playing an airy melody in which the notes rise and fall with a delicate, yet complex rhythm.
I can’t think of an other species of bird that sings this sweetly 🙂

The Hermit Thrush is a wintertime resident of North Carolina and they generally stick around until mid to late April before departing to their breeding grounds in the northern & western regions of the United States and Canada.
There are even a few year-round resident Hermit Thrushes that nest in the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains here on the east coast.
Pretty cool huh?

During the colder months their diet includes elderberries, pokeberries, holly berries, serviceberries, grapes, mistletoe berries, as well as any insects, worms or grubs it can find.
Preferring to stay close to stands of Holly trees and other broadleaf conifers, they are best found in the mid to low canopy levels of a forest, tangled brushy thickets near bodies of water or even while scraping through the leaf litter on the ground in search of a meal.
Bass Lake Park is a perfect example of their favored habitat so keep an ear out for them if you ever have a chance to visit!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds