Vermont’s singing hermits

Along with the wood thrush and the veery, the hermit thrush—Vermont’s state bird—sings one of the most iconic songs in woodlands all over the state.

Have a listen here. The song is often compared to a tremulous flute. Like the veery and the wood thrush, if you slow down the recording it’s easy to hear two voices—the bird is singing in harmony with itself. The avian syrinx (as opposed to our human larynx) is capable of two voices at the same time.

These two paintings make up a diptych of the same bird, photographed moments apart in the woods in Wells, Vermont. It was a spring morning, and with very careful and slow movements on my part, he tolerated my approach, offering about five minutes of camera time.

One easy way to tell the hermit from the wood thrush is the color of the head and tail. The hermit has a red tail, and a relatively olive head, the wood thrush has a red head and an olive tail. The hermit’s breast spots are more subtle, extending about halfway down. They seem to fade as they go. The wood thrush’s spots are more graphic and extend all the way down to the flanks.

Vermont’s singing hermits is a diptych for sale now. Both paintings are acrylic on wood panel and measure 8x8 inches. Take a closer look, along with all my paintings now for sale at fishcrowstudio.com.