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Pretentious question about "Grey" birds. (1 Viewer)

pandachris

Well-known member
Hi all

Following a recent trip to Colombia/Brazil I've added Gray Wren to my smallish life-list (about 2200). We already had Grey Honeyeater from a trip to Australia a few years back. I feel I now need a list of unremarkable looking grey birds that are reasonably difficult to see. Any suggestions for my next grey/gray bird? I've scoured my life list and unsurprisingly there are lots of birds with grey in their name but I'm not sure that any count as both unremarkable and reasonably difficult. As an example from birds that I haven't seen, I don't feel that Grey Petrel qualifies because it's just too exciting :) If any suggestions are made that map onto birds already on my list, then I'll reassess them, but you don't need to scan all 56 of them and I'm too lazy to monitor my list for splits, downgrades etc.
 
Grey-necked Bunting is a pretty exciting bird. Might be too exciting.


Couldn't you just try and see grey birds in interesting circumstances? Like trying to see a Grey Wagtail whilst standing on your head? Or maybe even having an operation or catching some obscure tropical eye disease so that you can only see things in monochrome - then any birds you see would be a shade of 'grey' - you can then take your pick of the various sparrows and gulls etc out there at your leisure ... ???
 
Grey goshawk - somewhat drab/monochrome even compared to some others in the same genus, and you'd have to go back to Aus, so somewhat challenging in itself!
 
I did think about Grey Sunbird, which is already on my list. I feel that sunbirds are a bit too showy, though. Greylag is maybe too easy in the UK (assuming we're ignoring the feral ones). Also I feel that I need the birds to be Grey Xxxxxx rather than Grey-tailed Xxxxxx etc. On that basis, possibly supported by the fact that it's been seen in the Netherlands which is far too easy to get too, Grey-necked Bunting fails my arbitrary and self-imposed rules :)

A 'standing on my head' (or similar) list would be an entirely different list. Ironically I'm colour blind so can struggle with some combinations of shades (you would not believe how long it took me to resolve a very close Guianan Cock of the Rock against a green background!) but I don't feel that I can arbitrarily rename, say, Santa Marta Parakeet to Grey Parakeet based on my own inadequacies.

Grey Tit is on my life list, from Lesotho. I wasn't sure that it was difficult enough, though. I actually don't remember seeing it at all (it was nearly 20 years ago) but the name is perfect. If anyone can confirm that it's actually quite a difficult bird, then I'm happy to add it to the list as an "armchair tick"*.

Madagascar is possible as a near future destination. We were talking about it when in South America and Grey Bunting sounds exactly right. That in itself makes Madagascar even more tempting.

We saw Dull-coloured Grassquit last month. I know this because I remarked "Dull isn't a colour" or some such smartarsed comment.

We've done very little birding in North America. I don't think Grey Flycatcher fits the criteria (could be wrong) although Grey Vireo might be closer. To refine my criteria a little more, perhaps birds that I could easily find myself without a guide and with reasonably easy physical access in public areas should be excluded. There's no way that I could have found Gray Wren myself, even with access to a boat, and I think I would have been incredibly lucky to find my own Grey Honeyeater. If I could remember the Grey Tit then I'm sure that it would have been our marvellous guide at the time, Malcolm, who found it for us* and that we might otherwise have struggled (it was probably half-way up the Sani Pass road). My list is now officially up to three. I don't think Grey Tit-Flycatcher makes the cut, though.

Thanks for getting on board with what was, I hope, obviously a light-hearted attempt to stimulate a pointless debate. Any more suggestions will be welcomed.
 
Grey Goshawk - now that's a tricky one. I mean, it's a Goshawk. It should have no place on a list of birds that are unremarkable. That said, my eldest lives in Sydney and we definitely have plans to return to Australia within the next few years, so perhaps ...
 
I should have researched Grey Bunting :) Madagascar is more tempting, for us, then Japan.

Grey Gull sounds like a good fit but might just be too common and easy. The nesting areas might be hard to get to but the extent of it's range along the coast includes places where you could probably spot one from an hotel pool.

Grey Shrike-Thrush is on our list and I think was self found - I feel that I remember we were sitting in a restaurant in (takes deep breath) Darwin(?) and there were some in nearby trees. If you can see them from restaurants they're too easy :). Yes, I'm making my rules up as I go.

Grey Thornbill could work. All species in the New Guinea highlands sound like they would be hard work. I'm not sure that I would be able to swing a week in New Guinea as part of the Australia trip, although I can think of a way it could be brought about.
 
Besides the grey goshawk there is an actual grey hawk - a smallish, fairly unremarkable Neotropical buteo. It has a fairly wide distribution, but could be an interesting one to self-find.

Grey gull might be more challenging to look for outside its usual range. There have been sightings as far north as California.
 
You could try for a Gray Thrasher, Toxostoma cinereum. It's a Baja California endemic. With luck, you could get it on your "beverage at hand" list, as I did in 2013 on the terrace of a hotel in Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez.
Or Grey Thrasher, qual que quieres.
 

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