"Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks."
― Samuel Johnson
A nearby friend of mine discovered this gem of a bird coming to their backyard ― a Varied Thrush! Its Scientific Latin name is Ixoreus naevius; the genus name meaning "mistletoe" and species name meaning "spot." I guess you could called it the Spotted Mistletoe Thrush and you wouldn't be wrong. This is a western species that visits Wisconsin on occasion. It wouldn't be a life or county bird for me, as I saw one in my backyard about 20 years ago. Some people get all the luck! Unfortunately for the Reliables, the property owner is keeping this one off lists, so you'll have to find your own. There are a number of other recent reports in Wisconsin for this species, so keep a sharp eye!
Again, there have been some spectacular sunrises and sunsets, like this one which I stopped to take photographs of on my way to work yesterday morning:
The Varied Thrush is nearly the same color, wouldn't you agree? Anyway, the sunlight on the underside of the clouds didn't last long, though. Finally, by the time I got to Barneveld Prairie the illuminating effect had subsided.
Some images © 2022 Mike McDowell