We arrived in San Jose today 9th May and I took most of these picture from our hotel Balcony in Heredia. The light was very poor so not the best pictures. Unfortunately my bird book and I seem to have parted company somewhere. The last picture was taken out of a taxi window at the airport with my phone and it was raining poor photograph. It was about Magpie size looked black all over with a long diamond shaped tail. Mike
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ID`s Please Costa Rica (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Mike Beer
- Start date
Valéry Schollaert
Respect animals, don't eat or wear their body or s
I see 3 Mountain Thrushes, pic 2 is Rufous-collared Sparrow, 4 is Blue-grey Tanager and last looks like Great-tailed Grackle.
Valéry Schollaert
Respect animals, don't eat or wear their body or s
You are probably right, but e-Bird is full of photos of Mountain Thrush from San José ; did I miss something ? https://ebird.org/species/mourob1?siteLanguage=es_DO
Not to argue (with either of you) but I think I see yellowish on the bills of thrush 1 and 3 which suggests clay-coloured. Not sure about 2
pbjosh
missing the neotropics
Sure, Mountain Thrush might show up in San Jose at times, but keep in mind that many of the eBird records are likely recorder error (I looked through them and only saw one defensible record, the majority of the records from the city proper are from visiting birders or are just patently unlikely). If/when Mountain Thrush occurs in San Jose it is going to be many orders of magnitude less common than Clay-colored, and when it does occur, is likely to be in parks or wood lots, or in gardens with big trees, more than perched on hoses and fences, and is more likely to be at the edge of the city than in the middle of town. Anything is possible, but you're more likely to win a mega millions lottery than photograph three Mountain Thrushes out of a hotel window in San Jose 
Within the city of San Jose there's only one record of a "Mountain Thrush" with a photo - https://ebird.org/checklist/S102222643. I believe Mountain Thrush should always have dark marking on the undertail coverts which this bird does not have, but I do not know if Mountain Thrush can lack this field mark. The bird in this list looks like it could be Pale-vented Thrush to my eye. I would want to dig into ID of those and refresh myself a lot more before offering a stronger opinion.
There is one record that looks believable, the description is of a Mountain Thrush from someone who knew what to look for: https://ebird.org/checklist/S41131754
As far as the original three pictures posted:
-The first bird looks to have a much warmer tone and perhaps pale legs, though I would weight the probability of occurrence far more than what we can see in the photo.
-The second bird probably has a pale bill though the photo is not helping. Again, I'd go with Occam's Razor here and say that unless you have a very good photo or recording of a definite Mountain Thrush, you are much safer to just call it a Clay-colored Thrush.
-The third bird has a yellow bill and enough detail is visible to feel quite safe, even from just the photo, calling it a Clay-colored Thrush.
If someone really expert on these species takes a looks at the photos and suggests one is a Mountain Thrush, I'm all ears and keen to learn, but I don't expect it to happen is all
Within the city of San Jose there's only one record of a "Mountain Thrush" with a photo - https://ebird.org/checklist/S102222643. I believe Mountain Thrush should always have dark marking on the undertail coverts which this bird does not have, but I do not know if Mountain Thrush can lack this field mark. The bird in this list looks like it could be Pale-vented Thrush to my eye. I would want to dig into ID of those and refresh myself a lot more before offering a stronger opinion.
There is one record that looks believable, the description is of a Mountain Thrush from someone who knew what to look for: https://ebird.org/checklist/S41131754
As far as the original three pictures posted:
-The first bird looks to have a much warmer tone and perhaps pale legs, though I would weight the probability of occurrence far more than what we can see in the photo.
-The second bird probably has a pale bill though the photo is not helping. Again, I'd go with Occam's Razor here and say that unless you have a very good photo or recording of a definite Mountain Thrush, you are much safer to just call it a Clay-colored Thrush.
-The third bird has a yellow bill and enough detail is visible to feel quite safe, even from just the photo, calling it a Clay-colored Thrush.
If someone really expert on these species takes a looks at the photos and suggests one is a Mountain Thrush, I'm all ears and keen to learn, but I don't expect it to happen is all
...As I've said elsewhere, suggest having private messaging function like here in BF would help. Reviewers can't catch everything, but for those of us who care [about local patches etc], perhaps a private message would persuade people to correct their records
Correct - as we've covered here before. But, in order to accrue that privilege, you have to contribute eBird lists at an absurdly high rate. They really know how to shoot themselves in their feet 👎🏻
pbjosh
missing the neotropics
Valéry Schollaert
Respect animals, don't eat or wear their body or s
Interesting, I visited San José many times but not since 2005, so I forgot which birds are common there.Sure, Mountain Thrush might show up in San Jose at times, but keep in mind that many of the eBird records are likely recorder error (I looked through them and only saw one defensible record, the majority of the records from the city proper are from visiting birders or are just patently unlikely). If/when Mountain Thrush occurs in San Jose it is going to be many orders of magnitude less common than Clay-colored, and when it does occur, is likely to be in parks or wood lots, or in gardens with big trees, more than perched on hoses and fences, and is more likely to be at the edge of the city than in the middle of town. Anything is possible, but you're more likely to win a mega millions lottery than photograph three Mountain Thrushes out of a hotel window in San Jose
Within the city of San Jose there's only one record of a "Mountain Thrush" with a photo - https://ebird.org/checklist/S102222643. I believe Mountain Thrush should always have dark marking on the undertail coverts which this bird does not have, but I do not know if Mountain Thrush can lack this field mark. The bird in this list looks like it could be Pale-vented Thrush to my eye. I would want to dig into ID of those and refresh myself a lot more before offering a stronger opinion.
There is one record that looks believable, the description is of a Mountain Thrush from someone who knew what to look for: https://ebird.org/checklist/S41131754
As far as the original three pictures posted:
-The first bird looks to have a much warmer tone and perhaps pale legs, though I would weight the probability of occurrence far more than what we can see in the photo.
-The second bird probably has a pale bill though the photo is not helping. Again, I'd go with Occam's Razor here and say that unless you have a very good photo or recording of a definite Mountain Thrush, you are much safer to just call it a Clay-colored Thrush.
-The third bird has a yellow bill and enough detail is visible to feel quite safe, even from just the photo, calling it a Clay-colored Thrush.
If someone really expert on these species takes a looks at the photos and suggests one is a Mountain Thrush, I'm all ears and keen to learn, but I don't expect it to happen is all
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