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Veery

Status Fairly common in summer. Breeds. It generally arrives in early May (average 14 May, earliest 25 April); one at Amherst on 19-20 April 1964 was exceptionally early (E. Lowerison). It is common in hardwood areas in southern parts of the province and uncommon elsewhere. Migratory movements have been recorded in early September, but it often goes unreported in fall. Latest sightings were on 11 October 1975 and 1978.

Description Length: 16.5-19 cm. Adults: Entire upperparts uniform cinnamon-brown; sides of throat and breast buff with delicate or indistinct fine brown spots; centre of throat and belly white; flanks faintly washed with gray; no eye ring.

Breeding Nest: On the ground or on very low branches of bushes or small trees, usually in damp or wet places. Composed of fern stalks and other coarse vegetation, with a lining of fine rootlets. Eggs: 3-4; greenish blue, unmarked. On 22 June 1965, a nest containing two eggs was found at Crousetown, Lunenburg County, by Nellie Snyder. It was about 60 cm from the ground, placed out on the limb of a short spruce and composed of coarse plant stems and leaf membranes, with a lining of fine rootlets; the nest tree was located in a clump of alders in open woodland. Joseph Johnson found a nest at Karsdale, Annapolis County, on 17 June 1966. It was placed on fallen branches about 60 cm from the ground, contained four eggs, was composed of bark strips and maple leaves and located on the edge of an alder swamp along a woods road.

Range Breeds from southern British Columbia, the central Prairie Provinces, southern Quebec and southwestern Newfoundland, south to Oregon, Ohio and New Jersey, and in the mountains to Georgia. Winters in South America.

Remarks The Veery is one of our best woodland songsters. When heard at twilight in summer, its melodious notes ring out in clear descending cadences that delight the ear. It sings considerably later in the evening than most other birds. On the evening of 23 July 1952 I heard one at Lumsden Lake, Kings County, singing at 9:30 p.m., some time after the last American Robin and White-throated Sparrow had quieted down for the night. It shows a marked preference for thickets of deciduous growth, particularly those where the land is damp and boggy, or near water.

Our nesting birds are of the subspecies Catharus fuscescens fuscescens. Darker birds (like that in the colour plate) that have been seen on Sable Island and elsewhere may be Catharus fuscescens fuliginosa, which nests in Newfoundland.