Turns out this Gray-cheeked type Thrush I spotted in Bryant Park on 20-Apr is more of a rarity than I thought. I received an email letting me know that this bird is not seen in our area in April and after looking online for April records I couldn't find many. For this reason I've packed my Lumix FZ-30 camera with 12x optical zoom, all 2.5 pounds of it, in my bag in case an occasion like this happens again.
Luckily, this bird was not skulking in the shadows. Pete Dunne nicknames this bird the "Thicket Thrush" in his "Essential Field Guide Companion" (EFGC). The bird was feeding on the pavement on worms in the cracks of the Bluestone walkway on the lower section in the southeast corner of the park. The bird was in the open for a good portion of the hour I was at the site. It was obviously different than the nearby Hermit Thrush. The main difference was the overall color of the head and back which were not a warm brown like the Hermit's but plainer or washed out. The details on the eye were clear. The bird had crescents behind both eyes unlike the complete eye-rings on the nearby Hermit Thrush. It was easy to compare its size with the Hermit Thrush since they were practically in the same field of view. The Gray-cheeked type Thrush was larger than the Hermit Thrush and the Hermit appeared compact and squat in comparison. The wings of the Gray-cheeked type were ruddy as was its tail. Here's Dunne's EFGC description under Bicknell's Thrush "... [with] a ruddy tail more reminiscent of Hermit Thrush, but usually very difficult to distinguish from Gray-cheeked." Remarkably, the most obvious behavioral difference between the GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH and the Hermit Thrush was that it never bobbed its tail like the alert looking Hermit Thrush constantly did. This was after watching the birds for a good portion of the hour. The bird wasn't seen again on the 21st of April. Ben Cacace Manhattan, NYC @NYCbirder -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
