HERMIT THRUSH    
Catharus guttatus
Order:  Passeriformes

Family:  Turdidae

 Alpha Code:  HETH                    AOU#:  759.0

Band Size:  1B
     Hermit Thrushes are surprisingly abundant at our Zuma Canyon Bird Banding Station, as it is the sixth most common bird we encounter, even though it is only here as a winter bird.  Hermit Thrushes winter across the southern half of the U.S.   Over much of the West it breeds in the coniferous forests, woodlands, and thickets.  Pyle describes 13 subspecies in three groups.  I am not familiar as to how different they are.

     Thrushes are moderate sized passerines at 17-18 cm weight about 25 g.  The back is various shades of brown (see subspecies) with a rufous or reddish uppertail coverts and tail.  National Geographics describes the complete, whitish eye ring, but it never stood out for me as an obvious characteristic.  The underparts are more creamy than whitish with bold spots becoming darker and denser near the upper breast and paler and sparser near the belly.

    As a winter bird we do not hear this bird singing/ calling, and we usually do not even see it as it skulks in the shrubbery.  Yet it is regularly caught in our nets.  A number of the Hermit Thrushes are caught in successive years indicating that they seem to return to the same wintering grounds.

Bird Banding:  Through the fall and winter, it is often fairly easy to separate HY/SY from AHY/ASY birds, as HY/SY birds have unique buffy tips to the greater coverts.  I have also notice fault bars on the secondaries are helpful.

     Unlike the East where there are numerous species of  thrushes, we have only the Hermit and Swainson's thrushes.  Separation of these two through binoculars in southern California is complicated because the local subspecies of Swainson's Thrush has a rufous rump.  Pyle has some very clear cut characteristics to separate the two species in hand, Fig. 228 for Hermit Thrush and Fig. 227 for Swainson's Thrush.  Basically, p9 < p6 and p6 is emarginated in HETH, while p9 > p6 and p6 is not emarginated in SWTH. 

One other observation is timing.  Swainson's Thrushes seem to pass south through southern California in late summer/early fall (Sep-Oct) and then north in late winter/early spring (May).  In between these two times, Hermit Thrushes are common; we have never encountered a Swainson's Thrush in winter.  See accompanying figures.