Summary
- Natural history: Vermont named the Hermit Thrush its state bird in 1927, honoring the clear, melodic song that rings through the state’s forests at dawn and dusk. One of the most abundant forest songbirds in North America, with an estimated 60 million breeding from Alaska to the southern Appalachians, it favors slightly drier ground than its Veery and Swainson’s Thrush relatives and often nests near small openings in otherwise unbroken woods. Unlike most of its migratory kin, it winters within the United States rather than the tropics, sparing it the deforestation pressures that threaten many Neotropical migrant songbirds.
- Status in VT: Increased by 10% (155 to 171 blocks). Greatest increase in number of blocks in Champlain Valley.
- Data from other research: FBMP: no sig. trend.
- Conservation status: State rank S5B
- Other atlases: NY: 31%; PA: 37%; MD: 60%
- VT’s role in North American range: VT is within the core of the range.
- Causes of change since first Atlas: Unknown.
- Management/Monitoring recommendations: No current recommendations.
Population Trends
First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)
Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)
Change in Distribution
