There are trade-offs with everything in life.

When I lived in my house in the woods years ago, the action at the birdfeeder was nonstop with great birds. I never saw a single house sparrow, starling, or pigeon the entire time I lived there.

On the other hand, it took 20 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store or restaurant. Nothing except a few trails through the woods, a small lake and a pond were within walking distance. That suited me just fine when I wanted to look for birds or simply take a nice peaceful walk, which was often. It didn’t do me much good when I needed food, however.

Now that I live close to a downtown area of a small town, I can walk to the grocery store, restaurants, and just about anything else I need. The flip side, of course, is that the action at the birdfeeder is not as robust. It is not void of birds by any stretch, but house sparrows and starlings are the most frequent visitors, sometimes converging on the feeders in great numbers.

I do get my share of more “desirable” feeder birds such as chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and downy woodpeckers, but it is nothing like the old place in the woods. It is rare that an unexpected visitor will show up at the feeder nowadays.

The other day, however, I was treated to a surprise visitor. The feeding station is outside of a large picture window in the living room. As I walked towards my desk to start a work-from-home day, I noticed a large brown bird sitting on top of the suet cage. There was no mistaking that it was a brown thrasher.

Brown thrashers are not what anyone would consider a common feeder bird, and never in all my years in the woods did one visit. Brown thrashers are more likely to feed off the ground, so people sometimes see them at their feeding station eating spilled seeds. It is more uncommon to see them actually at a feeder.

I think part of the attraction to my feeding station for the thrasher is the nearby dense brush. A grossly overgrown forsythia is in the vicinity, and brown thrashers love thick vegetation.

It was the first surprise visitor I have had at my feeders in a long time. When I first moved in, a red-breasted nuthatch was hanging around, but I haven’t seen one since.

At the old house in the woods, surprise visitors were fairly common. In addition to scores of the common feeder birds, I hosted eastern bluebirds, indigo buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks, yellow-rumped warblers, pine warblers, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

In an ideal world, one would be able to see awesome birds at their feeders regularly and also be able to walk to the grocery store. Life doesn’t always work that way, of course, so I just appreciate the things I do have. I appreciate the birds I do see at the feeder these days, and it’s always nice to know that a gallon of milk or loaf of bread is only a short walk away.