Flying orange

There has been a slight uptick in recent observations of the Varied Thrush around the region. This orange-coloured cousin of the robin (also a thrush) is a permanent, but sparse, resident of the region. In the winter, a few more of them can be seen as others migrate through the region.

I have recently spotted the Varied Thrush in a few places, but principally hanging around the rowan trees, where it seems to like both berries and the insects it finds there.

Unlike the robin, this thrush is remarkably skittish: if it realizes that you are watching, it is abruptly gone. 

However, the real reason for this posting is that I managed a picture showing it flying. I discovered that in all of my previous images, it is perched. Indeed, the vast majority of the online images also show it perched — it seems that it is difficult to take a shot of the Varied Thrush flying.

A male Varied Thrush forages in a rowan tree.

It then flew to a different location, and in doing so, spread its orange wingbars.