(See member picture gallery below). January’s bird of the month, Turdus migratorius, is the largest North American thrush (related to the Hermit Thrush, Wood Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, etc.). It’s also one of the most puzzling migratory mysteries left in our continent’s avifauna—where you might see thousands of them one winter, you’ll see none the next! This sporadic nature of their overwintering sites appears to be correlated to resource availability: in other words, they’ll stay where they can find something to eat! One year they’ll be up in Massachussetts in enormous flocks and completely absent from Palm Beach County; the next year, millions of those Massachussetts birds will be out in the Loxahatchee NWR and Corbett. Although they’re among the more familiar birds, a description of them might read like this: fairly large, graybrown bird with a large, round body, long legs, and a long tail. They have warm orange underparts and dark heads, with a white patch on the lower belly that can be quite obvious in flight. Come find out more at our January Meeting! ( (Photographer’s please note that next month’ s Feb 2013 Bird is the Cedar Waxwing)