LET'S THRASH OUT THE PROBLEMS OF THRUSHES

Hermit Thrush - photo courtesy Sharon Milligan
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For details on this Saturday's field trip,  go to the end of the article

One of the complexities of bird-identification is the "alikeness" of certain birds. The potential birder, when confronted by a bush full of look-alikes, often takes the road of least resistance and gives up the world of birds as seen through binoculars.

This surrender to seemingly overwhelming problems in deciding what-is-what can happen to some people when they first flip through a field guide... and they never make it to the great outdoors!

The solution to the problem of look-alike birds is to bypass the similarities and concentrate on the differences.

One group of birds that plays havoc with one's self confidence is the thrushes, specifically those five species which are, for all intents and purposes, brown and white below, with a variable number of spots on the breast. A glance at a page of spotted thrushes will underscore the fact that the similarities outnumber the differences that demand attention!

Since this is one of two periods each year when one may encounter any or all of the five "spotted" thrushes (the other is during April), it pays to be prepared for such a contingency.

We are talking here about Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush and we'll presume that the reader has a field guide opened to the page on which these five thrushes are illustrated.

Proceed by separating them into two groups -- those that have reddish-brown in their plumage (Veery, Hermit Thrush, Wood Thrush) and those that don't (Gray-cheeked Thrush and Swainson's Thrush).

Should you encounter a thrush in the woods, your first "cut" should be based on the presence or absence of reddish-brown in some part of the upper plumage (head, back, tail).

Of the three "red" thrushes, further elimination can be made by the location of the reddish-brown in the plumage If it is an overall type of distribution, your bird is most certainly a Veery (notice that the Veery is also shorter on breast-spotting than any of the other thrushes).  If your bird has reddish-brown confined to the head and upper back, you are looking at a Wood Thrush (notice that the Wood Thrush is the most heavily spotted of the thrushes); if the reddish-brown occurs on the tail only, the bird in question is a Hermit Thrush (notice its habit of cocking its tail, then slowly dropping it).

The two remaining thrushes lack any suggestion of reddish-brown in their plumage and it is these two - the Gray-cheeked and the Swainson's, that gives birders, especially beginning birders, problems.

Let's assume that the bird in your field of view has been judged to be one of the "non-red" thrushes. Concentrate on the facial area first. If it is a Swainson's Thrush, your bird will have obvious buffiness around the eyes and cheeks. That point, plus a "warmth" to the brown of its plumage, identify it.

If the bird at hand has no warmth to its plumage and no suggestion of buffiness, it can be identified as a Gray-cheeked Thrush, even without getting a good view of the gray cheek or noting the lack of an eye ring.

By process of elimination, the gray-cheeked Thrush has been successfully identified! Often a birder does not have a long time to study a bird; in fact, the long-look is a distinct luxury, so the birder must be prepared, beforehand, to look for vital points, and that includes the lack of certain characteristics as well as the presence of certain others.

All of these thrush sightings occur in areas of brush and thickets and are mostly confined to woodlands (although one should remember that migrating birds are sometimes found in strange places). Most times they will be seen close to the ground or on the ground, but they often feed high here in the fall on trees which produce fruits and berries, such as sweetgum.

Apart from the months of October and April, when all five thrushes occur, one should be aware that a thrush seen in the middle of winter here on the Coast is virtually certain to be a Hermit Thrush; one seen here during the breeding season, must, on the basis of seasonal distribution, be the Wood Thrush.

Following is a list of the five thrushes, which gives the inclusive dates of occurrence on these species on the Mississippi Coast:

Veery: April 15 to May 26th and August 30 to October 29th

Gray-cheeked Thrush: April 1 to May 31 and September 12 to October 29th

Swainson's Thrush: March 31 to May 30 and September 13 to October 29th

Hermit Thrush: October 2 through April 25th

Wood Thrush: March 26 to November 1

Now that the reader has a new perspective on identifying thrushes - go get 'em!

This article was published in October, 1983

Mississippi Coast Audubon Society field trip - all are welcome!

October 15, 2016:  Logtown and Possum Walk, Hancock County

Leaders:  Joe Pettigrew (petigru@aol.com) and Millie Page

A variety of habitats rich in fall migrants, and they are pouring in!  Logtown is on the Mississippi Coast Birding Trail:  more info at http://mscoastbirdingtrail.audubon.org/logtown.html.

Place and Time: Meet at the Stennis Exit (I-10 Exit 2) in Bay St. Louis between7:15 and 7:30 AM

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