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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the hermit thrush. These birds are on the smaller side of the truth family reaching about 6.7 inches (17cm) in length and weighing a whopping ounce (30g) in weight. It would take a pile of almost 200 hermit thrushes to balance out a scale with Chester on the other end. Hermit thrushes are solid brown across their back and wings, pale along their belly, and have dark brown spots on their breasts. They also display a pale ring around their eyes. Here's what a hermit thrush sounds like.

These birds are migratory, spending their summers in the northern United States and Canada and their winters along the southern coasts of the US as well as Central America. They're largely absent from the central United States except while they're flying overhead, though some populations remain in the same place year-round, as well. There have also been sightings of hermit thrushes on western European coasts, but these are often years apart suggesting this is a rare occurrence. 

Hermit thrushes live up to their name as they're generally solitary birds. While they meet up for mating and nesting, outside of the breeding season hermit thrushes are, well, hermits! They spend their days foraging along the forest floor, flitting about, turning over leaves and debris, searching for food in the form of invertebrates and berries. During the winter, these birds almost entirely depend on plants as their main source of nutrition. Outside of this, they'll eat ants, bees, beetles, wasps, flies, spiders, snails, and more! Most of their foraging is done on the ground, but they'll sometimes catch bugs directly from the air, as well!

Hermit thrushes head north from approximately May to August in order to mate. Their nests are either a tidy pile of twigs, moss, and other soft materials under a bush on the ground, or about ten feet (3m) off the ground in a tree. The female lays about four pale blue-green eggs speckled with light brown and incubates them on her own for about twelve days. During this time, the male brings her food. Once the chicks hatch, it's only a matter of two weeks before they're ready to leave the nest! It's not uncommon for hermit thrushes to have two broods per season, and resident birds who don't migrate may even have three broods per year! 

While hermit thrush populations are generally considered stable one of the biggest threats migrating birds face is collision with new structures. A building that wasn't in place the previous year provides a hazard to migrants who aren't aware of its existence. These birds are also taken by birds of prey, foxes, and domestic cats. They're most often found in forests, but they'll readily adapt to parks, backyards, cemeteries, and more as places to call home.

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