General

Veery: Medium-sized thrush with rust-brown upperparts, indistinct pale gray eye-ring, white underparts, and faint rust-brown spots on breast. Dark race has gray-brown upperparts and breast spots. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Veery: Breeds from southern British Columbia east to Newfoundland and south to Arizona, South Dakota, Minnesota, New Jersey, and in mountains to Georgia. Spends winters in tropics. Inhabits moist deciduous woodlands; prefers willow thickets along streams in the west.

Breeding and Nesting

Veery: Three to five pale blue eggs are laid in a cup nest made of grass, stems, twigs, and moss, lined with soft bark and dry leaves, and built atop a platform on dry ground sheltered by shrubs, grass, or weeds; nest is sometimes built in a low tree or shrub. Incubation ranges from 10 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Veery: Eats insects, spiders, berries, and fruits. Forages on the ground and in trees; swoops from low perch to take prey on the ground, or gleans food from branches, foliage, or the ground.

Readily Eats

Raisins, Currants, Nut Meal

Vocalization

Veery Western: Song is a pleasant, liquid, descending "veer-u, veer-u, veer-u" with each note sung lower, repeated frequently with variation in phrasing. Call is harsh, down-slurred "veer."

Similar Species

Veery: Wood Thrush is larger, and has dark spotting on breast, sides, and upper belly. Hermit Thrush has olive-brown upperparts, pale gray underparts spotted with dark brown, and red-brown tail and rump.