Constance Slack says:

Last week I saw what I thought was a brown thrasher splashing in my bird bath but couldn’t get a good enough look at it before it flew away. Today a saw a pair of brown thrashers lingering in the birdbath long enough for me to recognize enough of the bird’s features to be able to identify the birds correctly. The thrashers came into the birdbath just after 4 starlings had been visiting the bath. We have been experiencing high heat, high humidity, and only an occasional brief light rain for about a month. While I do see starlings in my yard on occasion, this is the first time I have seen a brown thrasher. Northern mockingbirds have been visiting my bird bath this year, although in previous years I would only hear or spot them on rare occasions in my yard. Could these unusual bird sightings be a result of the high temperatures and lack of rain in the area of central New Jersey near the Delaware River where I live?