16 June 2017
I used to think that the wood thrush had the best song of all North American birds until I stood on a trail in north central Michigan this week surrounded by singing hermit thrushes. What a privilege to hear them!
If you’ve never experienced their ethereal song, don’t put off the experience for two decades as I did. Hermit thrushes (Catharus guttatus) nest on the ground in coniferous or mixed northern forests. As our climate warms their preferred habitat will be disappear from the eastern U.S. By 2050 their eastern breeding range will move north into Canada at Hudson Bay.
Listen now to the most beautiful song on earth.
(video of a hermit thrush in Maine by Wild Bird Videos by McElroy Productions on YouTube)
So beautiful, but my favorite is the Veery. I had one sing not three feet from me at Crane Creek. Magical!
What a beautiful sound.
It comes with its own echo!
Haunting ….
I appreciate all the thrush songs. They are all magical. My favorite though is also the Veery’s song. I love the downward spiral and the complexity of multiple sounds at once. It’s like it’s harmonizing with itself, very cool.
You can’t tell me that’s not language!
A big thank you! I have wondered for years what bird sings that tune, I was googling it the other night trying to find it, to no avail. Wow, thank you!
Thank you so much. What a truly beautiful way to start my day.
I just visited Michigan for the first time and when I heard this sound coming from the trees it took my breath away. I have non regrettably spent the last few days digging through bird song databases trying to figure out what bird sang this beautiful song and this is the first article that’s given me an answer! So thank you!! The call sounds like the soprano violin in Fisherman’s Harvest Song, truly magical!