Swainson's thrush

Whether it’s the high-pitched squawk of a dramatically gray, black and white Clark’s nutcracker at Mammoth Lakes, or the fairy tale music of a Swainson’s thrush singing from your garden bird feeder, these sounds are as varied as human voices — and there’s a charm to studying them on your own.

“Swainson’s thrush! Cape May warbler!”

The Swainson’s thrush has one of the most beautiful songs in our lowland forests, an upwardly winding spiral of complex fluted notes.

A long-distance migrant such as a Swainson’s thrush will travel 125 miles a day from as far as the tropical forests of Mexico and Central and South America.

In Washington, some of the birds most at risk in a 3 degrees Celsius warming include the rufous hummingbird, the white-crowned sparrow and the Swainson’s thrush.