Hermit Thrush: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — After missing two good birds yesterday, the birding day ended with the gift of this Hermit Thrush in our yard. I could not get the camera on the Brown Creeper in the morning (though I had it in the frame several times) or on the Common Loon on the Mousam River on my eTrike ride (wrong camera in my hand, and gone by the time I got the right one), and I thought the thrush was going the same way. It flew in under the feeders by my backyard photo bind as I was folding up the blind to put it away, and after I had already put my camera up on the deck by the back door of the house. It sat there and looked at me, 10 feet away, for several moments and then scuttered off to the back side of the tree line and into the neighbor’s yard. I watched it through the brush for a while and then a chipmunk made a run at it, and it hopped back through the bushes close to me. So then I had to go get the camera. Again I had to contend with the full width of the tree line but I got some shots for the record. Then, another chipmunk ran at it (not sure what was going on there but two chipmunks apparently attacking a Hermit Thrush on the lawn has to be more than a coincidence) and it hopped over the brush, right past me, and into our yard below our deck. I was paying me no attention at all, so I was able to “stalk” it across the yard and get a few better photos. 🙂 Like I say, a gift! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.