Yesterday, 2 Thrushes were hanging around the big banian : a nice Japanese Thrush male and this one on the left with a strange pattern. Not plain brown above, looks like a bird in a transition plumage with grey appearing on the rump, the wings, the back, the crown and the ear-coverts ; hindneck, lores, feathers still brownish. A young male Grey-backed in the process of acquiring its adult plumage ?
Sebastien
That's a tricky one, nice!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the pictures of monday's bird yet but I'd say the bird we see here is somewhere in the middle between the monday-bird and yesterday's Japanese Thrush.
Clearly this is a first winter bird. The facial pattern looks ok for Grey-backed (although Japanese can look very similar), the breast pattern looks a bit too mottled for Grey-backed, not streaky enough and is not demarcated well enough. The flanks don't show enough orange for Grey-backed, I think. Also the spotting looks a bit too heavy?! I struggle a bit with its gender, though. I would have said female.
Sebastien, what makes you think this could be a male?
In the end I'd say - a coin-flip bird. I'm not sure if Grey-backed or Japanese but a slight tendency towards Japanese.
Comments very welcome!!!
Cheers
Falk
Hopefully it stays until spring - then we'll know for sure!!!
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