ML103724251

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

It was brown (perhaps grayish brown) with a long, black, and decurved bill. The bill was longer and more decurved compared to Bendire’s Thrasher. The breast showed a mottled pattern of somewhat blurry and roundish spotting. The pale yellowish/orange eye was obvious. Not only a 1st Orange County record (446 NIB and 291 NIB on my park list), but only the 3rd ever in California away from the deserts. We rushed back to the cars for scopes and cameras while making phone calls. I set my scope up outside the fence and played song again. The thrasher again teed up in the same bush and I was able to digiscope some photos through the fence. The bird dropped down inside this bush (Rhamnus or Ceanothus species) and we waited for others. Irene Horiuchi, Dick and Pat Cabe arrived within 15 minutes or so. I don’t remember when I played song again, but we did get some brief views of the bird as it foraged on the ground next to a mule fat bush without playing song. Although the nature center was closed, there were workers present and we were able to get one to open the gate and let us in. Others soon arrived including Jim Pike and Kim Reger, Doug Willick, and Debbie Hays. The bird again responded to recorded song on my Blackberry, but not as strongly, this time staying within the mule fat. It would sing in response to the tape, but would now become quiet shortly after I stopped playing the recording. I never heard the distinctive “wheet-wheet” call. Further views seem to show that the bill was all black and both the lower and upper mandible were definitely decurved, though not as strongly as a California Thrasher, but certainly more so than the bill of a Bendire’s Thrasher. I could see pale tips to the rectrices on the underside of the tail but they didn’t seem as substantial or as apparent as the Curve-billed Thrasher I saw yesterday at the Salton Sea. Leo and I found the bird at about 1000, I think, and at noon, we left with Irene and Debbie for lunch. I returned after lunch with Irene to help Robb Hamilton (with Grant) find the bird since everyone had departed and relocked the gate. Robb had been playing song and could hear the bird, but couldn’t see it. The bird was in the same mule fat bush I’d last seen it in and put my scope on the bird – a partial repayment for Robb’s Black-tailed Gull!

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SD4000 IS

ISO

800

Focal length

18.6 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

1217 pixels x 912 pixels

Original file size

437.7 KB