Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 17:16:10 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul O'Brien Subject: Bicknell's Alert! Comments: cc: obrienm@algorithms.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At about 4PM today (9/25) in the pouring rain a thrush landed on a plant hanger just outside our kitchen window. I was about 7 feet away going through the junk mail I had just brought in. I didn't see the bird arriv e, but I heard its call note, a high pitched "keeeah" with a downward inflection. I froze and stared at a Bicknell's Thrush. It flew about 10 more feet to a dogwood and sat still for almost a minute. Slowly I backpedaled to the light switch and turned it off (it was, after all, a d ark and stormy afternoon), then grabbed the binocular I keep on the refrigera tor to look at feeder birds. Here's what I saw: The bird was small and stub by, barely larger than the House Finches that often land on the same plant ha nger but heavier in the body. The face was dark with no eye ring or loral spo ts, but the throat and upper breast were washed with a strong buff color as t he background for heavy black spots. The head and back were a flat gray-bro wn, but the tail and rump showed a rich chestnut. The primaries were the sam e rich chestnut but only at their bases and the ratio of primary extension to tertial length was clearly less than 1. I did not take note of the flank color or that of the lower mandible, which was pale for the most part. T he article by Dan Lane and Al Jaramillo in the current issue of Birding (Vol. 32, page 318) points out that the color of the bill is too variable to be of use in separating Bicknell's from Gray-cheeked. The other features I not ed above match Bicknell's with some overlap with the C.m.minimus subspecies of Gray-cheeked. However, those features in conjunction with the call note point to Bicknell's. If the foul weather holds up, as the weatherman predicts, this bird shoul d be in the woods near my back yard tomorrow. Typically, Thrushes in migratio n hang around in the nearby woods for days, sometimes weeks. But, since we don't know when this one arrived, it could depart with the cold front tha t is coming tomorrow. At the risk of a colossal traffic jam, and the ire of m y nei ghbors, y'all come and we'll look for it tomorrow morning. To get here from I 270 northbound take Exit 6 (West Montgomery Ave.) and stay to the left side of the exit ramp. That lane will cross W. Montgomery (traffic signal) and become Nelson St. (Southbound on I 270 exit onto W. Montgomery and turn left to cross over I 270, then turn left at the light onto Nelson). Nelson goes downhill and curves past a small shopping cent er and a ballfield. Beware of unexpected stop signs (Rockville's way of controlling traffic flow). At the third stop sign turn left onto College Parkway. At the next stop sign turn left onto Princeton Place. Proceed @ 1/4 mile to the fourth street, Duke St. South and turn left again. My ho use is #12 - on the left, of course. (From Rt 355 turn onto College Parway a t its beginning at College Plaza Shopping Center. The second stop sign is Princeton Place. Turn right and follow the above directions.) Access to the woods is down the (you guessed) left side of the house - but please skirt the newly planted grass on the slope. The crowd will be milling about in the woods for about two houses on either side of mine. It's City Park, Upper Watts Branch by name. The Thrushes tend to forage along the slope betwee n the houses and the stream. I hear Bicknell's flying over at night in both spring and fall migration, but only one other time have I actually seen one in these woods. It's worth a try. Paul O'Brien 12 Duke St. South Rockville, MD 20850 301-424-6491 pobrien776@aol.com ======================================================================== To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================== ==========================================================================