Hermit thrush breeding range expansion and habitat preferences in the southern Appalachian high-elevation forests
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The hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) is a wide-ranging migratory songbird that is found throughout much of North America. In eastern North America, the hermit thrush spends the winter months in the southeastern states. During the summer breeding season, it migrates north and breeds across much of Canada, New England, and down the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains south of Pennsylvania. Over the last several decades, this bird has been expanding its breeding range further south along the chain of the Appalachian Mountains into the spruce/fir and spruce/northern hardwood forests of Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.