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Varied Thrush : Ciitaarayuli Varied Thrush Ciitaarayuli means, “The bird that’s really good at squashing something.” And I imagine the “something” refers to insects or insect larvae they feed on during the summer when they nest in the spruce forests of the eastern LYK Delta. But that’s not the only thing they’re good at. They’re also virtuoso singers. Just listen to their eerie prolonged high-pitched ringing-bell song that slowly fades into the forest. For those living on the coast of the Delta, it’s worth taking a trip inland to experience this almost unearthly sound. Like their cousin, the American robin, Varied thrushes are fairly early arrivals to the Delta in the spring. The males come in first, and after choosing their nesting ground immediately begin to sing from perches high in the spruce to let other males know it has already been taken. In defending their territories, they can be quite combative. They threaten potential rivals by first cocking their tail and turning it toward the intruder while crouching with their head held out, wings lowered and their body feathers sleeked back. If that doesn’t work, they fan their cocked tail, then spread their wings and rotate them forward. Sometimes the males may even peck at each other or lock bills, followed by a high-speed chase and noisy squabbling calls. All of this is to eventually attract the later-arriving females to their sweet spot in the woods, thereby assuring the perpetuation of their species. After the female makes her choice, she sticks with her mate for the rest of the season. She chooses a spot for her nest, usually in a spruce tree at the base of a branch against the trunk, about 10 feet above the ground. She builds her nest in the form of a bulky open cup made of twigs, moss, leaves and bark fibers. She lines it with fine grass and moss, then drapes pieces of green moss over the rim and outside the nest to camouflage it. All is now ready for egg laying, which could lead to a clutch of between 1-6 pale blue, brown-dotted eggs. She alone broods the eggs for just shy of two weeks, then both parents feed the nestlings until they fledge about two weeks later. After flying the coop, so to speak, the young continue to be fed by both parents until they finally learn to feed on their own. At which point, if the season is warm enough and there is enough food the pair might decide to have a second brood. Food is the determining factor, and this means insects, including beetles, ants, caterpillars, worms, spiders and millipedes. From the middle of summer till they leave in fall, both adult and young birds will also eat wild berries. They are mostly ground feeders, which is why you seldom see them. The scientific name of the Varied thrush is Ixoreus naevius, Latin words meaning, “spotted mistletoe berry-eating mountain bird.” According to the Cornell Bird Laboratory, these beautiful birds don’t usually live in patches of forest of less than 40 acres. Although their populations normally tend to go up and down every two years, habitat fragmentation in Alaska and the Lower 48 states has resulted in continually declining numbers. This is cause for concern, as it is for so many other species of birds that are experiencing even more severe population declines. » List of Yupik Birds

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