Hermit Thrush model

[birder]

Well, for the last few weeks I had an urge to do a model of a Hermit Thrush, a bird that is drab really in appearance, but by many is considered one of the finest singers in North America, John Burroughs said it was the finest of all, wilder than the Wood Thrush, a bird that I don't get to see or hear at home. The Veery is one of my favorites though, even though it sings more briefly, sounds to me like a church organ. The related thrushes of the old world, the Blackbird (similar to our Robin) and others sing beautifully, and some would say the Nightingale there or the Skylark would be their favorites.
Bird songs can remind us of trips to beautiful places, like the call of the Common Loon from some northern wilderness lake, or the Hermit thrush that shares the ability to make one pause and listen. I could go on. but I'll spare you.
One spring a couple years ago I found a drab brown bird on the road, and it was on of these, and I sketched it but was disappointed in how lifeless and dull the specimen was in my drawing...my memory was triggered by Johan Sherft's Bluethroat model, that looks like it be a thrush..

It has taken me awhile and beta builds to get to this point, but I think the model is pretty much done, and took some pictures of putting one together.

[Michael Mash]

Hello Glen,
I enjoyed reading your descriptions of the various bird songs. Next time, please do go on.
One of my favorites is the sound Red Wing Blackbirds make in the spring. It is still the same song I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old. And it still means spring has sprung. Recently I have discovered they have several different songs. So next spring, I’ll be listening.

Nice work on your Hermit Thrush. Is this a “Birder Scratch Build”?
I don’t see you calling this a “Sherft” bird.
Mike

[Don Boose]

Another great bird. These show up in our back garden from time to time in the summer.

Don

[mbauer]

Wow, Glen, amazing descriptions. Just like a favorite song, I can now enjoy the sound of a happy Meadow Lark wafting through the empty space between the ears.

Michael mentions one of my favorite other birds, The Red Winged Blackbird. When growing up they were in all my favorite "swamps" sitting high on the cattails.

Yes, the Loon does have a very unique sound that travels in the still air late in the evenings on a very still lake during the summer here in Alaska.

Last time I was in Idaho visiting friends , captured a Meadow Lark singing on a video, at my friends ranch, will now go find it, just have to hear it again.

Thank you for the descriptions, waiting to see how this project turns out.

Thank you for sharing with us your skill with a keyboard, and design/build accomplishments!

Mike

[birder]

Originally Posted by Michael Mash

Hello Glen,
I enjoyed reading your descriptions of the various bird songs. Next time, please do go on.
One of my favorites is the sound Red Wing Blackbirds make in the spring. It is still the same song I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old. And it still means spring has sprung. Recently I have discovered they have several different songs. So next spring, I’ll be listening.

Nice work on your Hermit Thrush. Is this a “Birder Scratch Build”?
I don’t see you calling this a “Sherft” bird.
Mike

Hi Mike ha , the redwings are nice in the spring, in our area the males stake out claims for spots in the marsh in February!
I wish I had some type of CAD program, this is how Johan does his initial designs, so not really a model I can claim since was based on the Bluethroat, in fact the head is almost unchanged except for color, lots of changes in shape on the rest, but still based on the Bluethroat model. Johan has done some pioneering work on these I think. Your sketchup skills are good I'm afraid no such skills for me as yet I hope to get to that someday... my work is still hand drawn for the most part.

[birder]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

Another great bird. These show up in our back garden from time to time in the summer.

Don

Hi Don thank you, you must get to hear the Wood Thrush in the Pennsylvania woods too ... ( I think that is where I heard my first one if memory is right)
Have you read much of John Burroughs? I love his writing, he isn't the poet he would have liked to have been, I've been practicing my handwriting with writing from the work of some interesting writer or poet, fun.

[birder]

Originally Posted by mbauer

Wow, Glen, amazing descriptions. Just like a favorite song, I can now enjoy the sound of a happy Meadow Lark wafting through the empty space between the ears.

Michael mentions one of my favorite other birds, The Red Winged Blackbird. When growing up they were in all my favorite "swamps" sitting high on the cattails.

Yes, the Loon does have a very unique sound that travels in the still air late in the evenings on a very still lake during the summer here in Alaska.

Last time I was in Idaho visiting friends , captured a Meadow Lark singing on a video, at my friends ranch, will now go find it, just have to hear it again.

Thank you for the descriptions, waiting to see how this project turns out.

Thank you for sharing with us your skill with a keyboard, and design/build accomplishments!

Mike

That song is one I should have included, the Western Meadowlark ...
thanks again Mike

[Kevin WS]

Excellent Glen. Great job with all these models!

[whulsey]

Great work.
Spend a little time this afternoon watching the sparrows and towhees scramble around on the hillside across the street. Nothing special, just peaceful watching.

[birder]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Excellent Glen. Great job with all these models!

This has been a fun project, Johans templates form into nice shapes to suggest a bird's shape pretty convincingly. I end up building several "beta" builds though along the way so is pretty time consuming, the end result has been satisfying though. I took some cool Eagle pictures again the other day, they were calling when I went to work today so seems they wake up when it is still dark, we're approaching the shortest day of the year so they probably need all the feeding time they can get...