A Hermit Thrush’s Nest

The other day I found egg shells behind the cabin, a couple small sections of light blue shell. I collected them on a little sushi plate and took them inside.

I’d found them at the base of a small tree close to the eaves. We guessed, from the color, that they were hermit thrush eggs, but we didn’t see a nest until this morning. Michelle found it tucked at the crook of the lowest branch, about 10 feet off the ground. It’s a perfect little bowl of grass, mosses, and rope fiber.

hermit thrush nest

What we believe is a hermit thrush nest, within a couple feet of the cabin (Photo: Mark Zeiger).

No telling whether the chicks hatched out and fledged, or whether the squirrels that haunt the area might have raided it. What’s odd to us is that birds built a nest and laid eggs so close to the house without us knowing it. We’ve heard plenty of bird calls around the cabin, but none as close as this nest. It seems likely we’d hear nestlings from inside the cabin. Although, Michelle pointed out that the nest is situated above the slope of the metal roof, so any sounds from the nest might have been deflected outward. But, it seems unlikely that the fledglings would be so far advanced to leave the nest this early, so I assume the nest has been raided.

For better or worse, the nest seems abandoned. As for the egg shells, they disappeared. We think Spice ate them. We often give her treats on those little sushi dishes, so she must have found it and assumed it was for her. I guess a little extra calcium can’t hurt her?

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