The Hermit Thrush

The last minute of this video captures the haunting, flute-like song of hermit thrush nicely.

If you've wandered through a forest on a summer day and suddenly felt a moment of enchantment, it's possible the hermit thrush had cast a spell upon you.

Like all ground nesting birds, the hermit thrush is having a hard time in many places.  The reasons: 1) habitat loss and 2) cats. 

Cats are not native to North America but were introduced by European settlers.  Consequently, there are several American mammals and birds ill equipped to deal with the selective pressure of cat predation. 

Basically, anything that nests on the ground is toast if cats are allowed to roam free.

As the human population has expanded into woodlands and wetlands, so too have the cats.  We must raise awareness of the problem of cat predation now if we hope to reverse the steady decline in song bird populations along the eastern United States.

Keep your cat indoors, please --especially if you live near a river or a lake where birds tend to nest.