Varied Thrush by Ken _Gilliland

Poser • Animals • posted on Sep 21, 2013

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Description

With summer finally coming to a close, it's time of some autumn imagery and one of the new birds I'm working on. The Varied Thrush is one of my favorite birds, though rarely comes south enough to hang out in our yard (only on the coldest years). They are found primarily in the Pacific Northwest though have strayed to Baja California, the Midwest US and even the UK. During breeding season, Varied Thrushes eat insects and other arthropods from the leaf litter; in winter they eat mostly berries and nuts. Varied Thrushes forage on the ground, periodically moving to higher perches in the understory to sing or move between foraging sites. Males reach the breeding grounds before females and start singing to establish territories. They have several threat displays, beginning by cocking the tail, turning it toward an intruder, and lowering the wings. If the adversary remains, the displaying bird will face off, lowering its head, raising and fanning the tail, and spreading its wings out to its side. Occasionally, males peck at or lock bills with each other. While squabbling over territory or chasing away nest intruders, they may dive and swoop through dense vegetation, sometimes hitting branches along the way. Males may also defend small sites around bird feeders in the winter, though females seem to use alternative feeding sites to avoid competition. Varied Thrushes are fairly common, but their populations may be declining in Idaho, Washington, the Cascade Mountains, and the wet forests of the Oregon and California coasts. Because they live in mature and old-growth forests containing very large trees, logging and forest fragmentation can cause habitat loss that reduces their numbers. They don’t tend to live in forest patches smaller than about 40 acres. Around human habitation, Varied Thrushes have proven very vulnerable to window strikes as well as predation by domestic and feral cats and collisions with cars. Varied Thrushes may benefit from reserves that have been established to protect the Northern Spotted Owl. Rendered in Poser 2014 without Postwork. Models: Forest Autumn (Andrey Pestryakov/DAZ), Varied Thrush and CA Quail (me/Hivewire3D)