Tye et al.,
I have looked at the photos of the reported Swainson's Thrush from yesterday at
Skinner's Butte and to my eye it does not look right for that species. I am
looking primarily at the size, color and spacing of the spotting on the upper
breast, all of which favor Hermit Thrush in my opinion.
First, the spots are rather large and somewhat irregular in size. This is
typical of Hermit and not so of russet-backed Swainson's Thrushes, which have
smaller spots that seem (at least to my eye) to be more consistent in size.
Second, the spacing of the spots appears to be less dense overall than they
normally appear on the upper breast of a Swainson's. On Hermits the spotting
seems less organized (if that makes sense) with wide spacing between some spots
and others that abut one another creating a larger splotch sort of the way the
spots on the upper breast of a Sooty Fox Sparrow do. Finally, the spots are
dark dusky chocolatey brown, looking almost black at a glance. The spots are
clearly the darkest brown on the bird when compared to the brown on the
shoulder and crown that can be seen in the photo. On a russet-backed Swainson's
(the kind that prevail in western Oregon) the spots are decidedly reddish brown
and typically about the same color as the upper parts of the bird. It's hard to
tell, but this bird doesn't seem to have as much buffy wash across the breast
as a russet-backed Swainson's should show.
Here is a link to the eBird checklist with the photo of this thrush for those
who may want to have a look at it.
https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S44793177
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
________________________________
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Tye
Jeske <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2018 10:51 PM
To: Tye Jeske
Subject: [obol] Skinner's Butte/ Cantrell/ Medowlark Prairie Mourning, Eugene
This Mourning and early afternoon Alan Contreras, Joshua Galpern, Torrey
Gage-Tomlinson and I birded Skinner's Butte, and then some of Cantrell Neilson
and Meadowlark area this Mourning.
Skinner Butte was full of stuff this mourning, and we ended up with 48 species
in total. We had all 3 species of viero, lots of movement in warblers,
including Black throated gray, orange crowned, both types of yellow- rumps
including a hybrid. We had a female acorn woodpecker in the meadow. A flyby
Peregrine. A couple purple finch. Rufous and Anna's hummers. We hard a
Pac-slope flycatcher. Josh had a unusual flyby of 4 Caspian terns on the river.
Our most unusual bird was on the path to the eagles nest where Josh found a
quite early Swainson's thrush which I was able to get a photo of , which is on
our ebird checklist.
Unfortunately Torrey had to leave. So we headed to Stewart pond which had a
sora, common yellowthroat, and a lone male Cinnamon teal which were the
highlights.
We next headed to Cantrell and K.R. Neilson where we heard a chipping sparrow,
other highlights were some least sandpipers, gadwall, shovelers, green winged
teals, a immature peregrine falcon, and lots of savannah sparrows, and common
yellowthroats.
We next went to Meadowlark Prairie which had a huge flock of dunlin and Long
billed dowitchers, lots of waterfowl, barn Swallow, a surprise acorn woodpecker
heading towards royal, and across royal were a surprise pair of Western
Kingbirds.
Our last stop was Swallow pond which didn't have much besides some green wing
teal, shovelers, and yellow rumps.
Overall a great day with lots of migrants
Alan, Josh, or Torrey can add any other highlights
Good Birding
Tye J.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
POST: Send your post to obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
JOIN OR QUIT: //www.freelists.org/list/obol
FreeLists / Oregon Birders Online<//www.freelists.org/list/obol>
www.freelists.org
OBOL is a listserv dedicated to birding in Oregon, including, but not limited
to, rare bird alerts, unusual bird behavior, inquiries for species locations,
and upcoming birding events in Oregon.
OBOL archives:
www.freelists.org/archive/obol<//www.freelists.org/archive/obol>
Contact moderator: obol-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
