Idly watching the traffic around the feeder, I saw a bird I did not know. A bird, I was pretty sure, I had not seen before.
The bird’s flittiness made it tough to get a bead on it; the shade and shadows in which it was flitting made it impossible to see colours or to get a good shot even when it did pause for more than a nanosecond. I wasn’t trying to get a photo for the ages: just enough for Merlin (my bird-identifying wizard/app) to work with. And boy, he doesn’t need much.
The sun finally rose high enough and the bird finally came out from the shrubbery long enough for me to get a dark-ish but clear-ish shot.
Cooperation. Finally. Sort of.
And Merlin said . . . the envelope, please . . .
Dunno.
OK, OK, not exactly. It said “Swainson’s thrush or hermit thrush.”
If that thrush ever comes back, I hope it turns its (tell-all, tell-tale) tail my way.
I am betting on Swainson’s thrush, according to those Wiki references, because yours looks olive-backed and I think the shade only emphasizes that tone. It will be fun to see your next photo of this beauty!
Laurna – My eye for colour subtleties is not good, so I’ll take your word for it. Merlin offered Swainson’s as its first choice, for what that’s worth (usually quite a lot). I hope they come back to give me another shot at it.
Nice catch especially considering that they don’t stay long enough anywhere to be caught.
Jim R – LOL – indeed, there was more than one and they were all over the place. About all I could see clearly through the binoculars was the belly spots and the eye ring – neither of which are useful for identifying species. Maybe a little strategic placement of double-sided sticky tape . . .
Isabel
You reminded me of the Woody Herman song “Who dat up here?”
Who dat up dere? Who dat down there?
Who dat up dere? (Who dat) down there?
Who dat up dere sayin’ who dat down there?
When I say who up dere, who dat down there?
Who dat inside? Who dat outside?
Who dat inside? (Who dat) outside?
Who dat inside sayin’ who dat outside?
When I say who inside, who dat outside?
Tom
Tom – Trust you to have the appropriate music reference. 🙂 Here’s a link for those who want to listen to the Decca recording.