Hi Anne Marie,
Way cool to hear this as I, too, saw a Gray-cheeked Thrush in my side
yard this morning (I live very near the intersection of Sapsucker Woods Road
and Hanshaw Road. The bird I saw in the shadowy shrubby back of my yard was
exactly as you described: Gray olive above from head to tail, including wings.
Face essentially uncolored (certainly nothing close to buffy of Swainson's).
Two-toned bill. White chin edged with small spots on both sides. Smallish
spots on upper breast. I have no idea why, but when I saw this bird, my brain
immediately took me back to a trip to Mexico I took several years ago. I saw
many Clay-colored Robins in similar habitat (none of which actually looked
clay-colored to me!). But alas, I watched this bird for 5 minutes from about
15 feet away and could not make it into a Clay-colored Robin no matter how hard
I tried ?!.
Lots of warblers, vireos, Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers (a pair
patiently looking for insects only six feet from me!), and other thrushes too.
fun morning.
Jody
Jody W. Enck, PhD
Program Development and Evaluation
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2169
From: Anne Marie Johnsonmailto:annemariejohn...@frontiernet.net
Sent: ?Saturday?, ?May? ?10?, ?2014 ?11?:?20? ?AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-Lmailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu
At about 9:30 this morning there were at least 3 thrushes along the portion
of the East Trail that parallels Sapsucker Woods Road (on the east side of
the road heading south from the traihead). The first I got a good look at
was a SWAINSON'S THRUSH--clearly buffy eye ring, spectacle, and lower
cheek. The next one was a VEERY--essentially no spots, brown back. Then a
third thrush came in, and all the thrushes chased around. One thrush landed
on the path and foraged for quite awhile, giving me a chance to observe all
sides from 15 to 20 ft away. The back was evenly dark gray/olive, tail to
cap. The cheek was a lighter gray/olive under the eye but no contrast in
shade. There were no face markings. I believe this last thrush was a
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.
The AMERICAN BITTERN was still near the Sherwood Platform, but while we
were there, it flew from the little area to the right of the two benches
west of the boardwalk. It landed along the edge of the pond north of the
platform but still in full view from the two benches.
I arrived at Sapsucker Woods late this morning and didn't see much in the
way of warblers. There was a PALM WARBLER near the Sherwood Platform, and
several BLACK-THROATED GREEN warblers along the southwest portion of the
Wilson Trail. Still lots of Yellow-rumps and Ruby-crowned Kinglets around.
Anne Marie Johnson
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