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Wood Thrush Behavior



I'm curious about what my resident Wood Thrush is up to.  In spring it sang, 
it seems, from dawn to dusk, and kept on going well into the season.  There 
are several Wood Thrushes in the neighborhood, so he had a lot of competition 
to keep his patch safe.  Finally, he quieted down in June, but now for the 
last week or so he's been back at it again.  I can't imagine he's looking to 
nest again, so what's he up to?  I've heard the theory about singing based on 
the amount of daylight hours and that's possible, I guess.  Anyone have any 
other ideas?  Whatever, I'm enjoying his serenade and always miss it when he 
stops.
      This neighborhood is a wooded development with about 300 houses on 1 to 
2 acre lots about 5 miles from Hendersonville and Wood Thrushes abound every 
year.  I don't know what their nesting success is in this obviously broken 
patch of forest, but they keep coming back in good numbers every year.  With 
the National Forest so close (about five miles), what's the big attraction 
with subdivisions?  If they were here before development (about 10 to 15 years 
ago)and just stayed on, it sure seems like they must be doing okay despite the 
Blue Jays, raccoons, cats, squirrels, etc.  Or could they be forest spillover 
year after year?  Anyway, it's made me think that there must be more to Wood 
Thrush decline in some regions besides forest fragmentation.  I really don't 
know, though.   
Marilyn Westphal
Hendersonville, NC
mjwestphal@unca.edu