Help with Thrush ID (1 Viewer)

Barbets48

Well-known member

• Oct 15, 2014

• #1

This morning I went birding at a local park in Baise, Guangxi. I happened upon a thrush walking on the ground in some grass and fallen leaves. After looking at a number of photos online and consulting the MacKinnon field guide I am really puzzled as to its identity. Here are the field marks I observed. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Sorry that I did not get a photo.

Habits: Walking on ground slowly, mainly in cut grass, among fallen leaves.
Voice: Very high, thin call note in flight
Appearance: Uniform brown back and tail, with no streaking. White eyebrow quite prominent over eye (most noticeable feature of the bird perhaps), but not extending far back behind the eye. White underneath with black streaking most dense on breast, but extending along sides and onto belly. The streaks seemed to form lines, giving it a streaked, not speckled or spotted appearance. White (unmarked) vent. Faint buff wing bar.

OF the photos I observed, Redwing seemed most similar, but the bird I saw lacked a prominent rust on the sides and didn't have such a prominent supercilium extending back behind the eye.

 

J

jonathmartinez

Well-known member

• Oct 15, 2014

• #2

appart of Eyebrowed and Grey-sided Thrush, not many thrush showing a white eyebrow...but your description of the underparts do not fit any of these and GS Thrush would be a real mega , even probably not very far from their migration route to Thailand...

 

chris butterworth

aka The Person Named Above

• Oct 15, 2014

• #3

Dusky Thrush?

 

Jeff Hopkins

Just another...observer

• Oct 15, 2014

• #4

I'm with Chris. Sounds like a dusky.

 

J

jonathmartinez

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2014

• #5

Dusky is a very rare bird in Guangxi that would be more expected to turn up by late autumn even I agree that os much more likely than a Grey-sided, and the call do not fit Dusky at ll.

 

rockfowl

Mark Andrews

• Oct 16, 2014

• #6

It doesn't really fit any of the expected thrushes, not being funny, but it sounds like an Olive-backed Pipit?

 

Last edited: Oct 16, 2014

Barbets48

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2014

• #7

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I feel a bit dumb, but Mark's suggestion was right on. My bird was indeed an Olive-backed Pipit. Upon looking at photos of the pipit, it was immediately clear.

This goes to show that I have a lot to learn about Chinese birds (being new here) and that I have only seen a few pipits in my life before in a very different type of habitat than the other day!

Thanks for your help.

Mike

 

D

DavidJStanton

Member

• Oct 16, 2014

• #8

Agree with Rockfowl - sounds like and OBP

 

thrush

Craig Brelsford (大山雀)

• Oct 16, 2014

• #9

jonathmartinez said:

Dusky is a very rare bird in Guangxi that would be more expected to turn up by late autumn ...

Click to expand...

Glad we got this one figured out. Jonathan, as usual you give accurate information, a product of your tight focus on SE China! Dusky would be rare now and indeed at any time in Guangxi (Robson, Birds of SE Asia, has Dusky as "scarce winter visitor" to N Vietnam [adjacent to Guangxi]). At this time of year, Dusky would, in fact, be a fairly remarkable record even as far N as Shanghai (at 31° N latitude). I've yet to see a single Dusky in the Shanghai region this fall; but by November, they should be showing up regularly around here. I'd therefore expect Dusky in Guangxi no earlier than November.

 

Jeff Hopkins

Just another...observer

• Oct 16, 2014

• #10

OBP makes sense. Glad we could clear it up

 

rockfowl

Mark Andrews

• Oct 16, 2014

• #11

mzwebby said:

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I feel a bit dumb, but Mark's suggestion was right on. My bird was indeed an Olive-backed Pipit. Upon looking at photos of the pipit, it was immediately clear.

This goes to show that I have a lot to learn about Chinese birds (being new here) and that I have only seen a few pipits in my life before in a very different type of habitat than the other day!

Thanks for your help.

Mike

Click to expand...

Don't feel dumb, it's something that happens when, as you say you see a species from a family that you have rarely seen, behaving or being in habitat outside the 'norm'. Your description perfectly fitted OBP and you won't be the first to be confused by their mini-thrush-like qualities!

 

Last edited: Oct 16, 2014

G

Gretchen

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2014

• #12

I was initially confused by pipits. Not really having a lot of pipits in the US, it's not a family that one gets much experience with there.

 

J

jonathmartinez

Well-known member

• Oct 17, 2014

• #13

well I've said rare only because I still haven't seen any there despite few months spend in winter...I've seen only one to date in GUangdong, but HK would give a better figure of their occurence in the region.
They seeems fairly common along the yangtse bassin in winter with variation from a year to another in term of quantity...