Keith Costley called me yesterday morning to say he heard and saw a
singing Gray-cheeked Thrush at Milford Mill Park Friday in the early
morning. I went down in the later morning and heard some singing and got
some good looks at it. It's only perhaps the third time I ever heard
one, the other two times being in Pete Webb's yard nearby some years
back.
It was still there this morning (Saturday), seen and heard by Mark
Linardi and me. I actually went down early at 6:45AM (which will shock
anyone who knows me) to get a recording. The bird was singing more
vigorously than in late morning yesterday and the traffic noise was
less, so I got an acceptable recording for ID purposes, especially after
applying some heavy-duty noise filtering on the computer.
Unfortunately the bird is in the noisiest part of the park. If you are
going clockwise around the trail it likes the shady area between the
path and the stream near the very first bench and before the first open
area leading down to the stream, i.e. within about 200 feet of the
parking lot. The song unfortunately is very low-volume and nasal, so
it's a challenge to hear it.
Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD
scartan ^at^ verizon ^dot^ net |