Note: All photos taken in full sunlight without flash.
All photos by Martin Meyers unless otherwise noted.
Note that the first photo was snapped immediately before the photo which follows it, as the
bird was preparing to take flight.
(Metadata with photo shows first photo taken 9:05:20 and the second 9:05:21.)
The two photos were taken in rapid succession, (both within the same second).
Greg says they occurred in the order shown.
Bird appeared to be getting ready to fly down, then perhaps changed its mind.
Note that Greg is using a different camera and, it appears, different exposure setting
from the ones in my photos.
Text of original post to ID-Frontiers
On 9/15/07, the thrush shown in the accompanying photos was observed at a ranch residence in
Dyer, Nevada, USA. This location is at a typical desert migrant trap, an agricultural valley in
the Great Basin desert, central Nevada.
Photos of this bird are at: (obsolete link was included here)
Any assistance in determining the identification of this bird would be most appreciated.
I have six other photos (and larger copies of the displayed photos), and I can obtain additional
photos from Greg Scyphers, if anyone wishes to see more.
Swainson's Thrush and Hermit Thrush are regular visitors during migration. Both breed in the
state, according to the newly published Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada. There are some
possible breeding records for Swainson's from central Nevada within 100 miles of where these
photos were obtained. Hermit Thrush is known to breed in nearby mountains.
There was one Veery report submitted to the Nevada Bird Records Committee (NBRC) from the general
area where the current photos were obtained, but that record was not endorsed by the NBRC. There
are four historical records for Veery from southern Nevada (Las Vegas area) mentioned in Alcorn,
and one NBRC accepted record from that area. (Note that the Las Vegas area is approximately 200
miles south/southeast of the area where the current photos were obtained.)
Alcorn lists one record of Gray-cheeked Thrush from the Las Vegas area, and one other Las Vegas
area record for that species has been submitted to the NBRC, not yet reviewed by the committee.
(Bicknell's Thrush is unknown in the state.)
While I don't think Wood Thrush is relevant to this discussion, I'll note that Wood Thrush is a
rare vagrant to Nevada, with one record accepted by the NBRC from central Nevada. There is
another NBRC accepted record from southeast Nevada (Pahranagat Refuge) with another historical
record in Alcorn for that location There is also a very recent record from southern Nevada (Las
Vegas area) which will be submitted to the NBRC for review, and another historical record in
Alcorn for that location.
References cited: "Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada", Floyd, Elphick, Chishom, Mack, Elston,
Ammon, Boone, 2007
"The Birds of Nevada", Alcorn, 1988
NBRC website, www.gbbo.org/nbrc
Martin