They’re back! Swainson’s Thrush have returned to the North Cascades forests.

I’m not a birdwatcher – glasses too thick – so I’ve never seen this bird close enough to identify it by color or markings. But I sure have heard it

I love this bird’s song. Its lively, upward-spiraling chorus seems to echo off the trees, and it’s often answered by a like call from another thrush in another tree just a few yards away.

Listen for yourself here.

They usually arrive in late spring. I thought they might have got here a bit later this year, but I can’t be sure. By the end of July you don’t hear them anymore. They’re either too busy raising their young, or perhaps they’ve already begun their migration south to Mexico and even Argentina.

So for the next couple of months I’ll be listening for them. They always make me smile.