Is your heart weary? Is your spirit longing for beauty? Does sorrow consume your thoughts? Are you lonely?
The woodland thrush has the antidote for you.
The most evocative of the Eastern Woodland singers, the Veery, the Hermit Thrush, the Swainson’s Thrush, and (especially) the Wood Thrush have a melody that hits the heart chakra just right. The song is often characterized as “haunting,” not because it is scary but because it seems to echo through the forest late on a sunny afternoon.
You may not have the good fortune to hear this somewhat uncommon bird in the forest, or you may need the song’s uplifting powers in the wintertime, but birding CDs and bird sites on the Internet have recordings of the song. The woodland thrushes can also be invoked during healing rituals. I like to display photographs of healing animals to imbibe their energy in a subtle way. As a treatment for depression or low spirit, this bird may be the ticket. The song has a melancholy edge to it that respects sadness even as it soothes it.
The woodland thrushes thrive in large intact forests with tall trees, usually deciduous or mixed deciduous-coniferous forests. They eat insects and berries. They nest on the ground or in the lower branches of trees. The male, who has the pretty voice, takes an active role with the female in raising young.
Most of the woodland thrush songsters are declining in population. The Wood Thrush is even considered in danger of extinction if remedial measures are not taken. Loss of forest habitat not only in northern breeding ranges, but in Central American wintering areas, is critical. Steps taken in the US to protect this species will not be enough, which illustrates the importance of conservation efforts across national boundaries. We are all connected.
Further reading:
Wood Thrush life cycle at Audubon: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-thrush
Wood Thrush conservation efforts at Cornell All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/saving-the-wood-thrush-qa-with-ron-rohrbaugh/
Overview of Woodland Thrushes: https://www.nhpr.org/post/something-wild-thrushes#stream/0
Recordings of Hermit Thrush and Swainson’s Thrush can also be heard on the Cornell website.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/sounds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/sounds
RE: Healing Medicine From the Woods -these are beautiful birds…it’s important to recognize that almost ALL birds are endangered on the earth from pesticide use, habitat loss pollution etc. We are in the midst of an ecological crisis that humans have never experienced before.
Prayer to the Wood Thrush 5/13/10
On this exquisite New Moon of May,
the Wood Thrush has returned, exuberant, virtuosic,
casting its heartbreaking riffs into the eager ears of the woods.
All nature sounds with her, in its bones, in its sap.
All of us are freed with her freedom.
All of us are catapulted into new ways, new paths,
vibrating down to the quivering spirals of our DNA.
Welcome, darling brilliant wee singer!
Break up for us the frozen overused ruts
that form our cold winter thoughts, our stiffness.
Push us one more step forward into joy.
Annelinde Metzner
Beautiful. Thank you.