Who's That Singing?

Tuesday I heard a bird singing loudly & beautifully.  I thought it might be the mocking birds returning to terrorize us their nest from last year, because it seemed this bird was singing several different songs.  I dug around in a drawer to find grabbed the binoculars & headed the direction from which I was hearing the songs.

At the top of some very high Leland Cypress trees sat the "singer"... and it was NOT a  mockingbird!  Oh, I was so glad!  Last year they built a nest in a really tall bush right near our grill, & first they were noisy: then when the "young" (which grow to full size very quickly!) left the nest, they hung out around our back yard & dive bombed swooped at us anytime we were outside.  We were SO glad to see them leave & weren't going to put out the welcome mat for them this year.

But is seems the singer is a Brown Thrasher (upper left corner).  So hopefully if she/he is building a nest nearby, they will be better neighbors than last year's mockingbirds!
The Carolina Wren (who has been around since we first moved in nine years ago, & who I love to hear sing) has built a nest in the gutter right at the back door!  So it should be interesting grilling out there when her young come along...