Swainson's
Thrush, Catharus
ustulatus
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![]() Swainson's Thrush summers and nests in the Bay Area, replacing the Hermit Thrush which winters here and departs in the spring. The Swainson's fluty upward-spiralling song and water-drop call are heard more often than the birds are seen, at least in my experience. I heard this one and another male both singing not far from each other along a shady creek near the coast in southern San Mateo County, California; this one came out and posed for me, to my delighted surprise. | |
![]() Above, a Swainson's at Magee Marsh in northern Ohio; below, a male singing on the nesting grounds in Palmer, Alaska, inland from Anchorage. Note the distinct eyering, white or buffy, with the buff line forward into the lores forming the "spectacles" characteristic of this species. |
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![]() We found this little guy stunned outside the glass sliding door to our kitchen. Happy ending: he flew away a few seconds after I snapped this picture. This one was presumably in migration to the wintering grounds in October; we don't usually have them in our neighborhood. The plumage is gray-olive, rather than the brown normally found in Pacific Coast Swainson's Thrushes, see top of page and below, so the bird may be one of the eastern "Olive-backed" subspecies. |
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![]() I photographed this very worn Swainson's Thrush late in summer in a coffeeberry bush in Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz; as you might guess, that large item in his bill is a coffeeberry. His brown upperparts are typical of the the Pacific type of this species, called "Russet-backed" by Sibley, and also shown in the bird at the top of the page. |