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Hermit Thrush? (1 Viewer)

O

Oldnintheway

Well-known member
United States
N.W. Washington, Kitsap County this morning, 5/27. Only got a brief look and some poor photos. The bird seemed much smaller than a thrush to me. But looking at this photo I don't know what else it could be. Ebird says rare for place & date. Thanks as always.
 

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It does look very much like Hermit Thrush to my eye, with a rufous tail contrasting against a duller brown back, also the eye-ring looks good.

According to Sibley (range map) Hermit Thrush can occur throughout the year in NW Washington State?

Cheers
 
Any more photos? Looks rather like an Ovenbird, which would explain your impression of the small size.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I checked historical sightings for this location on ebird and there have been a few in May in the past ten years. Though this would be the latest. It seemed to my eye to be consistently rufous rather than just the tail like I'm used to seeing on hermit thrushes. But I really haven't seen all that many.
Other pics are the same angle with poorer focus. :) I don't think we get ovenbirds here? But I'm a casual birder at best.
 
Could it be a Swainson's Thrush? The bill thickness seems better for that species, looking at the Sibley guide.
 
Microtus said:
Oldnintheway, do you have any other photos of this bird and can you post them here?
Click to expand...

He said "Other pics are the same angle with poorer focus. :)." The apparent rufous in the tail is not good for Ovenbird, so I'm not really pressing the issue.
 
For some reason I did not get notified of all of these posts. It was a brief encounter and unfortunately no pics from the front. This was at Point no Point at the very tip of Kitsap county. A few hundred feet above, and overlooking Puget Sound. As I said the bird looked tiny. Swainson's is even larger than Hermit, yes? Here's basically the same pic with the bird looking the other way. Thanks for all of your comments! I posted it as Hermit, with pic, on e-bird. We'll see what the reviewers have to say.
 

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Oldnintheway said:
For some reason I did not get notified of all of these posts. It was a brief encounter and unfortunately no pics from the front. This was at Point no Point at the very tip of Kitsap county. A few hundred feet above, and overlooking Puget Sound. As I said the bird looked tiny. Swainson's is even larger than Hermit, yes? Here's basically the same pic with the bird looking the other way. Thanks for all of your comments! I posted it as Hermit, with pic, on e-bird. We'll see what the reviewers have to say.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The second photo eliminates Ovenbird.
 
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the curved culmen looks more like that of a Swainson's > Hermit Thrush, as does the apparent eye ring. The tail appears to contrast in favor of hermit, but I listed ID points in order of reliability based on the photo quality in my opinion. Bill shape isn't talked about, but study pictures and you will notice that Swainson's has a curved culmen where the curve starts at about the halfway point of the beak whereas Hermit is only curved at about the last 1/4 towards the tip of the beak. This seems consistent, I have compared hundreds/thousands of them this way.
 
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Well I just got corrected by the ebird reviewer and it is a Swainson's after all. The reviewer that made the correction is considered the best birder in the area and I don't question his information. Thanks again to all who contributed.
 
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