The Tale of Lyra

by Wyatt Downey, Land Stewardship Assistant

The Chasing Melody Project is an international effort involving several partner agencies and organizations, and it is dedicated to the study of wood thrush across their entire life cycles. During the summer of 2024, I had the pleasure of participating in this project as a volunteer alongside Sycamore Land Trust and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“Lyra,” a wood thrush tagged by Wyatt Downey as part of Indiana DNR and Indiana Audubon’s Chasing Melody Project

My primary role was scouting areas for wood thrush activity and locating nests. If I was able to locate one, I would then report the location to Allisyn Gillet, state ornithologist with the Indiana DNR, so we could return to that spot, capture the thrush, equip them with a motus harness, and then release them unharmed.

On my first scouting trip, I set out with fellow Sycamore intern, Lindsey Levine, to search one of the ridges at the Sam Shine Foundation Preserve. It was quite early when the search began, so while my coffee had not quite kicked in yet, I was buzzing with a mix of emotions. Excitement, because I was finally in the midst of a project I had been looking forward to for months, but also a nervous anticipation because this was my first time conducting an independent survey.

Those nerves quickly melted away when I heard wood thrush singing in the distance for the first time. I heard their songs long before we were able to spot them, so we followed their melodies and slowly but surely narrowed in on the area where they were most active. Not terribly long after determining the area that must be their territory, I spotted a nest with characteristics consistent with how a wood thrush would construct one. Wood Thrush nests are bulky, cup-shaped structures built by the female using grass, leaves, and stems, which are lined with mud and rootlets. They’re typically placed in the fork of a sapling or shrub in the forest understory.

The Sycamore stewardship team and I returned shortly after, alongside Alli’s team from the DNR. I led our joint crew down the ridge, and I was filled with absolute joy when we rounded a tree to see a wood thrush sitting on the nest. The following capture and equipping of the motus harness went as smoothly as we had hoped. The thrush was a female estimated to be in her second year of life, her tail feathers were ragged most likely due to her stage of molt, and she was beautiful!

After she had been fitted with a motus harness, we released her and sent her away with hopes of a successful nesting and then migration season. Later that same day, I learned that I could adopt a wood thrush as part of a fundraiser for the project. Naturally, I had to do just that, so I went online and submitted my “adoption” paperwork and fee. I wasn’t able to choose which thrush to adopt, so you can only imagine my excitement when I received the adoption certificate in the mail and discovered that the thrush I had been assigned was that very same thrush I had located!

I named her “Lyra” after the harp constellation, and I am happy to announce that not only did she survive her migratory journey, but her songs will now fill the ridge at Shine with joy for another season.

After Lyra’s Motus tag and harness were fitted, she was tracked on multiple radio telemetry towers along the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, including at our Sam Shine Foundation Preserve. Through this international network of research partners, we are able to track her progress along her annual migration. When her tag #88752 registers on a tower she passes, this information helps us better understand how to protect wood thrushes across their migratory range, and better protect and restore the habitats that this sensitive species relies on. Follow her journey at Motus.org.

“I learned that her tag was last picked up at Goose Pond, which means she’s either nesting there or could be at Shine without having been picked up on the tower,” Wyatt said. “Sometimes they won’t register if they’re in a valley or too far down the ridge. I suppose the alternative is her journey may have ended at Goose Pond, but I choose to believe she survived.”

This article is from the Summer 2025 issue of The Twig, “The Volunteer Issue.” Read the issue at sycamorelandtrust.org/twig.