Dear Tweeters,

Saturday took me on a fruitless search for Pine
Grosbeaks in eastern Skagit County. However, it was a
good day up there. Along the trail to Easy Pass, just
where one leaves the forest and enters the subalpine
area, a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL regaled me for quite a
while, tooting and flying from perch to perch.

I walked up the now rather sketchy trail to the Hardy
Burn, where I found almost no birds. However, back in
the sand pile area, I scanned the ridge above the
burn. To my delight, an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK
glided into view, moving eastwards with the wind,
which was starting to kick up Saturday afternoon. A
moment later, another raptor soared over the ridge,
looking roughly eagle-sized, but it disappeared before
I could ID it. It looked rather Osprey-like, but I
wasn't sure--rather late for that species, anyway.
Just as I turned to leave, an adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK
soared along, also headed eastwards. This bird was
much closer than the immature had been, and put on a
little show for me. It soared only ten or fifteen
meteres over the tops of the trees, just above the
sand pits. This was the first time I had ever seen two
Goshawks in one day, and the first I had seen in
Skagit County in nearly a decade. Yay!

Today I had a social call up in Van Horn (just east of
Concrete). As I drove slowly down a dirt road toward
my destination, an odd Turdus thrush hopped into the
path of my car. I drove behind it a good 200 meters,
and am still confused about this bird. Eventually,
when I got to my friend's house, the bird popped into
view, right in their front yard! My friend got a few
photos of the bird, but unfortunately they showed
little of the key marks. "Turdus peculiaris" is my
best guess at this point.

Here is what I saw:

-one thrush, the size of American Robin [AMRO]; much
bigger than Song Sparrow, bigger also than Spotted
Towhee, one of each of which were seen feeding
alongside it.

-Foraged on dirt road, and later in muddy yard along
shrubbery edge. Took some red fruit from ornamental
shrub. Behaviour basically identical to that expected
from AMRO. No AMRO present in immediate vicinity, but
two or more were in a yard about two to three hundred
meters away (and up a small hill) from where the odd
thrush was first seen.

-Greyish back, but with lots of round, whitish spots
on the upper back and on the folded wings.

-Crown dull slate-colored, about same as expected on
AMRO.

-Two faint, pale wingbars.

-White throat with two blackish, vertical streaks.

-Slate-colored tail, like that of AMRO, but with no
discernible white corners.

-Rufous flanks, the red color about like that expected
on a dull-looking AMRO. Not much reddish below--much
less than on any AMRO I have seen in well over a
month.

-Speckles on whitish breast, similar to speckles
expected on juvenile AMRO. Breast not reddish in the
manner of AMRO, but rather pale instead.

-Pale eyebrow, but not a very distinctive one.

-Legs dull, reddish grey.

-Bill greyish flesh-colored.

DISCUSSION: What in the heck was this? It looked more
like a robin than anything else I have seen. I am
fairly well experienced with Redwings, Fieldfares, and
Mistle Thrushes, and have seen Dusky Thrush and
Naumann's Thrush once each. The bird sure didn't look
much like any of those. However, it seems very, very
late for an American Robin to be holding onto its
juvenal plumage. The last spotted juvenile robin I
noted this summer was in early August.

My overall impression of the bird was of a rather
paler bird than expected on an American Robin, but
nothing about this bird suggested partial albinism to
me. Indeed, having seen quite a few albinistic or
leucistic robins over the years, I would say that this
bird was not an example of such.

Any comments on this quandary would be much
appreciated, especially as to the most recent
sightings of juvenile AMRO in this part of the state.







Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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