Ah, the brown thrasher, my love, my heart, the start of my birding journey. This particular bird is one of my favorites to spy, if not my most favorite bird of all time. Once when I was walking to my horrible chipotle job I had in my first year of college, I saw one of these guys out of the corner of my eye dart into one of those bushes that all college campuses are lined with. I was not late that day, but I did veer off course to see if I could find out what it was exactly. This little hunt and the subsequent search on how to id this bird is what got me hooked on birding in the first place, and it has been years.

This bird has a beautiful vibrant brown plumage that you don’t really see in other more buffy brown birds. It's a reddish brown that I think really suits Oklahoma's environment, though they are seen all over the northeastern part of North America. They are some of the shyest birds I have seen, every time I spy them, they are darting into undergrowth or something similar and it is hard to get a good look at them. Despite the name thrasher - something that sounds very violent, this bird is in the mimics family and has the largest (and most pleasant sounding) number of calls of any songbird. I have a personal theory that Merlin's sound id mistakes many thrasher calls for mockingbirds. Also something to note: apparently the songs are commonly in pairs while a mockingbirds are in triplets. I cannot confirm or deny this factoid because it is so difficult to see which bird is making the call hidden in a bush.

This is the first of my original photography that has made its way to this blog! I am quite proud of this moment because it just looks so nice! Perfect lighting to see the peachy pink hues of their underbelly. I was inspired to take this picture on a whim: while I was picking up some food after my shift at the hospital, I noticed it sitting on a wire very close to some parking sopts. So, I oulled over and took some shots before driving home. As I was oulling out of the lot, I noticed seven scissortails all sitting on the same wire! I have no idea how I missed a whole flock of them lol! They looked very beautiful in my reirview mirror.

Because I had never seen them in groups before (I usually see them solo - or maybe in pairs) I looked up if these birds flock. Apparently these guys form flocks when migrating south for winter! DUH! because its still so hot out, it almost slipped my mind that there is a huge migration happening right about now! I think I'll try to walk around some more so I can see some different species. I know a lot of birds travel through Oklahoma to get to the tropical areas. Maybe I'll try my hand at some more photography ;)

This is the first of my original photography that has made its way to this blog! I am quite proud of this moment because it just looks so nice!

The western kingbird is an easy bird to identify. I think its got that abnormally round head that many flycatchers have (and I have a distaste for) but also its striking yellow belly is a delight to see for birders and nonbirders alike. I love to point them out to nonbirders and surprise them with that pop of yellow when they take off in flight. As I was researching this bird I found that they have a secret dark side and flash a red plume at the top of their head when defending their territory. Very fun to find this out because I will now keep an eye out for it in the future.

There is this evil breeding pair that I like to spy on whenever I go to my sister's house. She lives off of the highway, and those turnpikes often have long grasses and wildflowers that would hide many a bug for them to catch. I am both envious and spiteful of their peaceful existence

Final fun fact: I used to confuse these with the eastern kingbird based solely on their name - and I came up with a little trick to remember the correct name. Their belly is yellow, and so is the sun - so the sun sets in the west therefore the yellow one is the western kingbird and the black-and-white one is eastern…. That is until I realized the sun also rises in the east…