This might be one of the coolest bird things I've ever seen.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/leisure-recreation/you-get-one-split-second-the-story-behind-a-viral-bird-photo/1744997

Oh wow, talk about perfect timing with that last photo!!   I've heard of starling murmurations, but have never actually witnessed one myself. 

@fantasia

To my knowledge we don’t have murmurations. I have never seen such large groups of starlings here in Michigan, although they are very abundant here.   Some people consider them a threat to the native wildlife (especially to the bluebird population).  They have been known to invade bluebird nesting boxes and lay their own eggs in them. I don’t particularly like starlings for understandable reasons, but the large gathering of them could be a spectacle. 

Here is some more information about starlings in Michigan:

https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=starlings%20in%20michigan&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5

The song thrush is a bird found in Britain and Europe which is much like our American wood thrush:

https://youtu.be/CS042NO0KuQ?si=j2O11cAbshoNHigI

I have never seen one, but I wonder if anyone here has watched this bird. Its song is quite different from the wood thrush (which sounds a flute), but its appearance is quite similar.  Their resemblance is amazing!  Both birds are forest inhabitants, and both have very lovely songs! 🙂

Here is a wood thrush video for comparison:

https://youtu.be/mcR6XrnD7Yc?si=8uMXt3cslFjifZ6O

I have seen and heard the wood thrush quite often here in Michigan forests during the month of May. What a beautiful flutelike song the bird has!  🙂

@narnian78 I have seen and heard song thrushes in the UK, and also mistle thrushes, which are slightly bigger and greyer. Where I used to live in Kent, there was a pair of mistle thrushes that used to nest each year in an old pine tree that I could see from my window, and I enjoyed watching them come and go. I named them Spicks and Specks (after the Bee Gees song)!  

The American wood thrush does have a beautiful song! A bit more tuneful than the British thrushes. British blackbirds are in the thrush family too, and have a lovely song.

I'm still in Australia until tonight (Thursday, as it is here) and have been enjoying hearing familiar bird songs and calls here, especially the Australian magpies. They are quite different from northern hemisphere magpies (not closely related at all — it was just British colonials seeing a black and white bird and being very unimaginative ) and they sing beautifully too. 

@courtenay 

I am glad that you were able to see and hear the song thrush. I always wondered what they were like to observe in the area where you live.  Probably the song thrush is the same bird that Tolkien refers to in The Hobbit since it eat snails and lives in the woodlands of the UK.  The American Robin and Eastern Bluebird are also thrushes found here in the US, and they stay here in Michigan all winter.

Posted by: @narnian78

Probably the song thrush is the same bird that Tolkien refers to in The Hobbit since it eat snails and lives in the woodlands of the UK.

Yes, it is. I don't know anyone who can understand their language, though. Or the ravens, for that matter.  

Around midnight last night, from inside the house, I heard an owl calling (note that all the windows are still closed since this is Minnesota in late winter 😉 ).  I stepped outside and confirmed that there was a great horned owl in the neighbor's tree. (I also noted that I heard the same species back in January in the same location). This is especially fun since I live in an inner-ring suburb of a large metro area rather than a rural area (and in my experience, the owl I hear most often in areas outside the city is the barred owl).

Since I was outside, I also enjoyed the view of Mars in the west-northwest. 

Last night, when I was outside with my Australian shepherd puppy, I heard two barred owls going back and forth right above our heads. It's not at all uncommon to hear them in the area but I've never heard them that close and the noise level was incredible. 

Another recent and fun birding experience is that tufted titmice have been coming to our window feeders. We live slightly north of their range so that has been exciting, even my very experienced birding brother was delighted when he saw them at the feeders.

Here is an interesting video about the bluebird, a small thrush which had declined in population several decades ago but now has made a remarkable comeback because of nest boxes and the restoration of its habitat:

https://youtu.be/xOYZeN6mbTM?si=dIJTQlmtLt8u12P4

I have enjoyed this woman’s videos for the past several years and highly recommend them. They are so intriguing! 

Here is another video about the cardinal:

https://youtu.be/TaScZTlucPU?si=v2gwt1MLhpWvX0i

I think there are birds similar to these in other countries such as the U. K. and Australia.  They are very much loved here in Michigan and the U.S.!   🙂