ML126797431

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***MEGA*** Potential First Record for ABA Area! Initially found by John Bruin, Lisa Ruby, and Terry Hurst in the morning. Identification: The identification of this Gray Trasher is fairly straightforward. Gray Thrasher is most similar in appearance to Long-billed Thrasher but has light brown chevrons covering its chest, thigh tuffs, and belly instead of black streaks. Otherwise the bird had light brown upperparts, crown, and tail with some gray on the lower neck, gray auriculars, bright yellow eyes, and a white throat. The bill was fairly long for a Thrasher and obviously decurved. Two subspecies are recognized; mearnsi of northwest & central Baja California and cinereum of central & south Baja California. I cannot find any references listing the differences in these two subspecies but superficially geo-tagged photos on ebird show that this bird resembles the brownish northern mearnsi population versus the much grayer looking southern subspecies, cinereum. Origin: Based on ebird data, the closest breeding population of Gray Thrashers is roughly 150 miles south of Famosa Slough, in an area north of San Telmo, Mexico. Another nearby population is further inland in Valle Trinidad. Other endemic species from this same habitat include Xantus’s Hummingbird and the mangrove subspecies of Yellow Warbler. In 2009 a Mangrove Warbler was found less than a mile away from where this very bird was seen, while a Xantus’s Hummingbird was seen in 1986 at Yaqui Wells in San Diego. Xantu’s Hummingbirds have also been recorded in Ventura County and British Columbia, Canada. A dispersing bird, perhaps having been displaced by a combination of drought, intense storms, and the el Niño weather system could conceivably end up in Famosa Slough. Gray Thrasher, as I understand in not a bird you would expect to see as a cage bird due to its rather dull appearance and uninteresting song. While the bird showed some feather wear on the tail feathers and primaries, this does not seem abnormal for a ground foraging, scrub dwelling thrasher. All photos I could find of Gray Thrashers online show similar amounts of wear. There were some gray splotches on the backside of the bird and on its tail, which looked like dried mud, which may suggest it recently experienced some severe weather in the desert. We noticed it had recently lost its nail on the outer toe of its right foot, but all other nails seemed intact and were not overtly overgrown or abnormal in any way. While the bird was very photogenic it was weary of sudden movement and would often hide in nearby dense undergrowth when it felt threatened.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

1000

Focal length

560 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

2048 pixels x 1365 pixels

Original file size

522.81 KB