Tweeters,

I have listened carefully to the thrush song recorded by Martyn
Stewart, and commented on by Charles Swift. It is unquestionably a
typical Swainson's Thrush song.

This is still an astounding record for the date of March 21, not only
because of the earliness, but also because the bird was singing.
Swainson's Thrushes rarely sing during migration, and in fact usually
do not begin singing until a week or more after arriving on their
territories-- in this area, usually after May 20th.

I agree with Mike Patterson that many, if not most, Swainson's
Thrushes reported before late April in the northwest are likely
misidentified Hermit Thrushes. Our subspecies of Swainson's Thrush
(the so-called "Russet-backed Thrush") is easily confused with a
Hermit Thrush if seen briefly or not studied carefully. The songs of
the two species, however, are utterly distinctive. I've never heard a
bird that I had difficulty assigning to one or the other of these
species.

Russell Rogers, if you're reading this, how many March or early April
records of Swainson's do you have in your database of Washington bird
records?

Wayne Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Patterson <celata at pacifier.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: thrush song


> I was expecting to hear Hermit Thrush as well. I have heard
> Hermit Thrushes on Christmas counts if the sun is out and
> its warm and I suspect that many of the Swainson's Thrushes
> reported early in the season are Hermits instead.
>
> However (and no one will be surprised by this), I compared
> Martyn's recording to both Hermit and Swainson's sonograms
> and it looks very different from a typical Hermit song and
> right on Swainson's. I think the recording represents a
> singing Swainson's Thrush.
>
> ---- original message ----
> Subject: thrush song
> From: "Charles Swift" <charless AT moscow.com>
> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:28:26 -0800
>
> Hi All -
>
> I listened to the thrush song posted on naturesounds.org and am not
> convinced it is a Swainson's Thrush. It is certainly reminiscent of
> Swainson's but there is something odd about it. To my ear it has
some
> qualities of a Hermit Thrush as well.
>
> I agree with others that is seems way too early for Swainson's even
for
> being on the west side. Here in the interior we do not see (or hear)
> Swainson's Thrush until very late May or even early June. The
weather has
> been quite mild here but of course the neotrops wintering in Mexico
and
> Central America do not know that!
>
> You can hear a Hermit Thrush at:
http://birds.cornell.edu/bow/HERTHR/
> I'd be
> interested in hearing what others think (unless I've missed the
discussion).
>
> thanks, Charles.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Charles E. Swift
> Moscow, ID, USA
> charless AT moscow.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> --
> Mike Patterson
> Astoria, OR
> celata at pacifier.com
>
> Half-a-bee, philosophically must ipso-facto half not-be.
> But half the bee, has got to bee Vis-a-vis its entity...
> d'you see?
> But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee
> When half the bee is not a bee due to some ancient injury?
> -Monty Python
>
> http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html
>