Hi John,
The spots on the chest were black and the bird was too dark of a brown - not that peanut butter color of Veery. Later I thought it might have been a wood thrush, but the spots were not bold, limited to the upper breast and then faded quickly down the breast. The bird was also slim and the back was a grayer brown - not that strong woodthrush color. I had looks from the side of the bird that showed its entire left side including head and the really looked like a Swainson's - all things considered. I did notice that the legs were good and pink.
I haven't looked at any field guides yet, but If I had to put $ on it, I'm about 80% it was a really early swainson's.
Jason
P.S. I saw a ton of them on the pacific slope of Guatemala when I lived there for a number of years.
"John D. Beetham" <> wrote: Jason,
Is there any chance it could be a veery? The rest of the Catharus
thrushes don't really start moving until late August, according to the
Yellow Book. Swainson's has an early migration date of Aug. 17; hermit
has an early date of Aug. 26. Some hermits persist all summer, but I
assume that is in western Maryland only. Gray-cheeked thrush's early
date is Sept. 3, and Bicknell's appears around Sept. 15.
John
Jason wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> We had 2 immature American redstarts in Rock Creek Park - DC by the meadow in the brushy area with Devil's walking stick. This is entrance o Rock creek where the visitor's center is near Military road. The birds were flycatching in the thickets and were in sight at the same time.
>
> We also had a either a hermit or Swanson’s thrush up in a tree eating some small fruit that looked like cherries. I thought it looked most like a Bicknell's thrush, but really didn't get a close enough look. Any idea based on migratory dates which it would most likely be? Although I can't get it down 100% to species, I'm sure it was one of these three birds.
>
> Jason Berry
> DC
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
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>
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John D. Beetham
Washington, DC
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