Hello and welcome back. This week I wanted to share some images I took in late summer of a bird that I’d never seen until this point – a lifer! I’d been studying the song of the Grey-cheeked thrush thanks to my friend and birding mentor Reid. He has been incredibly helpful in teaching me what to look for and how to identify birds and their songs. Reid has been identifying Grey-cheeked thrushes for years by listening for their song as they fly over in the evenings during migration. After learning what to listen for, I heard them calling out my bedroom window one night as they passed by. Of course I couldn’t see a single body when I glanced outside but I was thrilled to have heard them thanks to my friend’s tutorial.
Fast forward a few months and I was walking through the park near city hall and I was certain that I was hearing the Grey-cheeked thrush song. I pulled out my Merlin ID app and did a sound ID and sure enough, the app identified the bird. I was in the park to take photos of some juvenile Harris’ sparrows in the shrubs and the Bohemian waxwings devouring the chokecherries. I could hear the bird and then of course as soon as I was near, not a peep!
I caught sight of some thrush-like birds moving between the chokecherry and a small copse of mixed trees nearby. Eventually I caught photos of the thrush-like bird as well as numerous sparrows, robins, and the waxwings all feeding from a single tree. When I shared my images with Reid hoping for a confirmation on the thrush species, he was excited to tell me that I had captured a Grey-cheeked thrush!
So what do we know about this elusive bird beside the fact that it’s shy? Interestingly the Grey-cheeked thrush is so elusive that there is a great deal about this bird that is still unknown. Scientists suspect the female chooses the nesting spot and very little is known about their courtship. Much of what is suspected about Gray-cheeked thrush behaviour is based on similar thrush species such as Bicknell’s thrush the two species only being separated in 1995.
The oldest recorded Gray-cheeked Thrush was at least 6 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and re-released during banding operations in Ontario in 2005. It had been banded as an adult in Florida in 1999.
Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoy the story and images of this elusive bird. Keep your ears open for them and you might catch a glimpse of one!