I am not Ernest Hemingway!

I'm back in the comfortable rolling desk chair in front of the glowing laptop at the Murphys' breezy house on Theresa Street. My feet are touching the soft carpet, and there's not a bug in sight.

I would say "hooray," but that would imply that I am glad to be done with our little overnight camping trip. Well, I am and I'm not. It's nice to be back, but it was nice to be there, too.


It was really enjoyable to wake up this morning to the sound of birds tweeting outside our tent, so I got the big idea that I'd do some bird-watching.

I saw one that I was sure I would be able to identify when I got back to the house because of its distinctive spotted chest and brown body.

I should've written more down because apparently there are many many birds with similarly spotted chests. Next time, I'll know to look at the beak, the wings, the head, etc.

I did a quick search on the Internet and thought "Ah ha! It was a song thrush." (See photo above.) Then I read an entry in Wikipedia that said, "It is commonly found in well-vegetated woods and gardens over all of Europe south of the Arctic circle, except Iberia. They have also been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. They are common and widespread in NZ however in Australia only a small population around Melbourne survives."

So I tried again. I thought, "Hmm. Looked an awful lot like a Northern Flicker." (see photo at right.) However, the Flickers I found on the Internet also had spotted wings and red feathers on their face.

Though I didn't do the best job of scoping out all the features of my bird, I'm pretty sure it didn't have spotted wings or a red-streaked face. (That being said, perhaps there are Flickers who don't have spotted wings or red faces. I don't know for sure, but I hit the search button again.)

I thought: could it be a Brown Thrasher, a reddish-brown bird with a spotted chest? Possible. According to enature.com, the birds "often feed on the ground, scattering dead leaves with their beaks as they search for insects." Maybe, but I'm going with the Hermit Thrush (below).

Here's his story (source: enature.com) "To many, the song of the Hermit Thrush is the most beautiful of any North American bird. Outside the breeding range it may occasionally be heard late in spring, before the birds head north to nest. This is the only one of our spotted thrushes that winters in the northern states, subsisting on berries and buds. During the warm months, however, it feeds largely on insects taken from the ground, most of the time under dense cover, hopping around and then watching in an upright position like a robin."

So I'm apparently not Ernest Hemingway or any of the other great nature writers. But I have a new interest in birds and will have fun using the binoculars we got for our wedding in the quiet of my backyard. And when I do, I'll be checking out this site.