ML613543654

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Really bad schematic sketch

Observation details

I’m not saying this is an Aztec Thrush… but I do want to log what I saw and have awareness up just in case… A very interesting mystery bird flew across at mid-tree height, just below the closed gate at the Upper Picnic Area, into the stream area near gate. It immediately caught my eye as very different than the usuals I see here—I hike-bird this route ridiculously often. I stopped to try to relocate it, only for a few minutes while my hiking partner waited, but I had no clue where it landed in the junipers along the stream near the south side of the gate. Here’s what I saw: Flight profile and style was like a robin or thrush but seemed smaller than an American Robin; when it flew across in front of us the only field mark I caught was that it had a very dark head and breast, the dark breast contrasting very cleanly with belly; it was flying into the sun so the dark hood was not a shadow and in fact would have been opposite effect; the flight height seemed really atypical (too high and too long) for Hermit Thrush, and much too high for Spotted Towhee (and build wrong, hood wrong). I completely didn’t consider Aztec Thrush at the time because I thought they were monsoon-season only. At home I checked eBird data and see a couple mid-late Jan records, so winter is a possibility? Added 1/15/24: bird was silent, no flight call nor call when landed. bird was solitary, not associated with a mixed flock.

Technical information

Model

iPhone 11 Pro

Lens

iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8

ISO

500

Focal length

4.3 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.8

Shutter speed

1/40 sec

Dimensions

3599 pixels x 2827 pixels

Original file size

2.71 MB