Subject: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
Date: Mar 22 16:28:38 2004
From: Martyn Stewart - mstew at naturesound.org
Yes, I saw the bird yesterday and he was calling again this afternoon, I
actually recorded the bird too and when I have filtered out the noise I will
post it. The earliest Swainson's I have seen in my diary is March 28th, this
was 1999. This was no Starling, Starlings are extremely good mimickers but
not this good, I saw the bird in the Microsoft meadow yesterday and I heard
him again today. Records are broken all the time including daily
temperatures, birds are shifting areas due to global warming, things are not
what they were back in 1982, you are taking information that is 22 years
old!
Thing is Wayne, I am one of those who will NOT identify a bird until I am
100% sure, I would only be kidding myself and for what?
Martyn
Martyn Stewart
Birds Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
http://www.naturesound.org
N47.65543 W121.98428
Redmond. Washington. USA
Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat
-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne C. Weber [mailto:contopus at telus.net]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:24 AM
To: MARTYN STEWART
Cc: TWEETERS
Subject: Re: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
Martyn,
A Swainson's Thrush in March would be extremely unusual. Gene Hunn, in
"Birding in Seattle and King County" (1982) indicates that the main
arrival of Swainson's Thrush is in May, with only a few appearing in
late April, and none in March. Where I live, around Vancouver, B.C.,
the average spring arrival date over 28 years for Swainson's Thrush is
May 6, and the earliest record ever is April 16. In addition,
Swainson's Thrushes usually do not begin singing until a week or two
after they arrive on their territories, or about May 20 in our area.
You did not indicate whether or not you saw the bird, or only heard
it. I have heard Starlings give some very credible imitations of a
Swainson's Thrush song. Could it be that perhaps you heard a Starling
imitation rather than a real Swainson's Thrush? This is one sighting
for which some visual confirmation would definitely be helpful.
Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Martyn Stewart <mstew at naturesound.org>
To: 'Tweeters' <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 4:00 PM
Subject: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
> I got my first Swainson's thrush of the season this afternoon at
State Park
> Issaquah, beautiful haunting spiral sound!
>
> The herons are doing well on the building with maybe 5 to 6 more
nests than
> last year; I counted 41 herons in the Heronry :-)
>
> Tree swallows in abundance, no willow flycatchers yet or common
> yellowthroats but after today's sunshine, the dorsal tones will soon
be with
> us :-)
>
>
>
>
>
> Martyn
>