I would be hard pressed to say what my *favorite* backyard bird is, or if I even have one, but the pleasure that I feel when this Hermit Thrush puts in an appearance tells me that s/he may well be it. A good part of the reason is that there is only the one. Last year I did on occasion see two of them at the same time, but so far this year I've only seen one. Which doesn't mean it's the same one every time, but still... This is a bird who has been wintering here for several years now. We have flocks of White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos that winter with us, and I suspect my crowds of Cardinals and Blue Jays are augmented by birds from further north who shift down here for the Winter, and we have hundreds more Goldfinches in the Winter than are here in the Summer, but this one Hermit Thrush that has selected my garden as his wintering place just makes me very very happy.

Behind him is one of the White-throated Sparrows.