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3 November 2010

Who am I ?



I have had some difficulty to clinch the ID of this Thrush seen yesterday at the Botanical Garden.
The blackish bill got me confused a little bit, nothing similar to this on the Robson's plate ! The dark spots below, the almost complete lack of orangey tones on the flanks...
My feeling is that it looks good for a 1st winter Japanese. Consulting the web definitely helped - especially this blog : http://10000birds.com/grey-thrush.htm

Comments welcome !
Sebastien




















2 comments:

  1. Hi Sebastian,

    Thrush guru Falk is what you need! He gave me a masterclass on Monday based on his year with the thrushes at Cuc Phuong.

    Based also on the heavy spotting along the flanks I would agree that this is Japanese.

    Simon

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  2. Hi all,

    yes, I agree - this looks like first year Japanese Thrush (obvious pale base of bill). Definetly not the bird that was seen (and photographed)by us yesterday, although somewhat similar. As Simon says (Simon says...:-)), heavy, predominantly black spotting on breast, flanks and partially belly. Less extended orange tones on the flanks with dark spots mingled in.
    I'm a bit surprised though, that the bill (apart from the base) is that black - would have expected it to be more yellowish.
    Anyway, 1st winter thrushes - a very fine line.
    Yesterday I realised I should do some thrush training again!
    Cheers,
    Falk

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