California Thrasher

We've also been enjoying the sight of two California Thrashers under our bird feeder the past couple of days.  These gray birds with long, graceful tail feathers are very shy birds who normally flee at the slightest sound or movement, so we have to watch them from inside the house, which means I can't get a decent picture of them.   They can fly but seem to prefer running into the shrubbery for shelter.

Usually there's only one Thrasher; since they are ground feeders, the Thrasher cleans up the seed the sparrows, House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches drop out of the feeders.  The Thrasher also likes the suet feeder, attacking it vigorously with its long, curved beak.

Recently there have been two Thrashers under the feeders.   One of them seems a bit larger and rounder than the other bird, but the smaller bird is the one who gathers the seed and suet and feeds the other.  We can't figure out if the rounder bird is a pregnant female being fed by the male, or if it's a chick being fed by the mother.

We'll probably never know the answer to that, but it's fun to watch these shy birds.