The Nature of Cedar Mill
Winter visitors to Cedar Mill
By Lauretta Young

Winter brings many gifts. With the inclement weather and the hiatus of the growing season we spend more time indoors. This allows us to reflect on our past summer—what we plan to plant for next year to learn from the things that didn't go as planned – and to rest like the dormant trees.

Part of my rest is not having so much yard work to do. The long to-do lists of weeding the vegetable garden, lopping off spent blooms from roses and flowers, picking ripening fruit and berries and produce has been replaced with some "fireplace and knitting" time. Of course there are still leaves to be raked when the wind has settled and dead dahlias to compost and trees to be pruned. But not being overly tidy also means that the wintering bird species have leaf litter in which to scout for insects, brush piles in which to hide and rose hips and spent seed heads on which to feast.

With the holidays many of us have guests. Some guests are local for dinner parties and holiday parties of various sorts. Other guests come from long distances and are not often seen. Sometimes these guests are hardly recognizable—the college student nephew who appears to have grown taller as well as more mature, the elderly grandmother who certainly appears more frail than one recalls or the still obnoxious uncle who is as gruff as ever even with one's best intentions to not have him be irritating this year. Similarly if we look into our own back yards we see our bird winter guests.

Varied thrush, photo by Jeff Young.

One of these last week was a delight for me. As I was reading the morning paper I spotted a bird that almost look like a robin but was more intricately colored. It almost blended in with the orange tones of the fallen leaves in which it was scratching busily.

I hadn't seen this bird for an entire year. I had certainly heard this bird when I would go out on trails in the local forests—even at Tryon Creek Park, but in the summer they are incredibly elusive by sight. The call is described as a long eerie quavering whistled note, followed after a pause by one on a lower or higher pitch. Describing bird song in words is a very unsatisfactory exercise so I prefer to direct my clients to the excellent web site of Cornell university ornithology where these researchers have recorded bird song for many years to provide high-quality songs and calls anyone can access. Listen to this bird. It is a Varied Thrush, you may just have one in your yard or you may have heard it in a forest in the summer in Oregon or further north.

The bird was quiet when I saw it, since most calls and songs are for territorial or breeding purposes. This wild bird certainly didn't want to attract any attention from the bird-eating local Cooper's and Sharp Shinned hawks, who also have to eat all year long but have a particularly easy time in the winter with minimal tree leaves to obscure the prey. I remember hearing this species over and over this past summer when my husband and I hiked in Sitka Alaska—these birds breed in the northern areas but return "south" for the winter. So he is one of my most beloved winter guests. He reminds me of my summer outings and he is lovely to see in the winter with his spectacular coloring.

We have other winter birds that will have to wait for a future column to give them justice, since many of them are similarly interesting in their behavior as well as form. But for now we can reflect about how the seasons bring us different gifts if we notice them. Some visitors are more evocative and welcome than others.

Happy holidays and go look in your yard to see what you find.

Lauretta Young is a retired physician who now teaches at Portland State University in community health and at OHSU in the Division of Management, and for fun takes local birders and guests from around the world out on bird tours in Cedar Mill and beyond. Check out her web site for recent trips and more photos from her husband. www.portlandbirdwatching.com

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