Swainson's Thrush

Since the Swainson's Thrush was a pretty exciting find in the A21 courtyard last Friday, I thought I'd find out a little about it's fall and winter habits. This info elaborated on, and taken from Cornell University's Birds of North America Online: this thrush is generally a nocturnal migrant, but stopover migrants move locally during the day. Migrating birds call to each other continuously while in flight. Telemetry data suggest that individuals depart shortly after sunset in clear conditions, later under cloudy conditions and maintain constant heading and air speed regardless of wind conditions, cloud cover, or landmarks. While overwintering in Central America and Northern South America, the Swainson's Thrush is known to follow army ant swarms! Gotta love biology.