Greetings,

I have no records from March in my database and only 6 from April.
However, it is not up to date, as I saw a a Swainson's Thrush at
Dungeness Spit NWR last March if I remember correctly. I remember
hearing a "whit" call and assumed it was a Hermit Thrush. I pisshed it
out of the brush and was greatly surprised to see that it was in fact a
Swainson's Thrush.

Tom Aversa is now keeping the database for Washington Field Notes.

Russell


Wayne C. Weber wrote:

>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
>>
>
>
>

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