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First Record of Song Thrush (<I>Turdus Philomelos</I>) in North

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First Record of Song Thrush (<I>Turdus Philomelos</I>) in North Firstrecord. ofSong Thrush (T s e os)inNorth America CLAUDEAUCHU, CHRISTlANE GIRARD - 3014TH AVENUE, APT. 174 ß LAPOCATIi•RE, QUEBEC GOR lZO - (EUAIL:corvus@globetrotter. net) GERMAINSAVARD ß 762 ROUTEDETADOUSSAC ß SAINT-FULGENCE, QU[•BEC GOV 150 ß (EMAIL:[email protected]) Abstract ly in the next four days,Samson and importanceof thisdiscovery, an opinion Thispaper documents the occurrenceof COt• were unsuccessful in their at- was also solicited from Michel Gossefin a SongThrush (Turdusphilomelos) at temptsto identifythe bird. In thelate af- of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Saint-Fulgence,Quebec, Canada 11-17 ternoon of 16 November, Germain Ottawa, who independentlyidentified November2006. This recordrepresents Savardreceived several photographs of the bird as a SongThrush. The follow- the firstof thisspecies within the North the mystery bird taken by Samson ing da), 17 November,Savard and seven American continental boundaries as de- through a telescopefrom inside the other birders of the Saguena)region fined by the AmericanOrnithologists' house.With no field guidesat hand at gatheredat the living room window of Union (A.O.U. 1998). his placeof work, Savardwas alsoun- the Samson-COt•home, the only place able to identify the bird conclusively where it was possibleto see the Song Field encounter and so forwardedthe photographsto Thrushwithout frightening it. The bird On 11 November 2006, Claude Samson Claude Auchu and Christlane Girard for was then observed intermittently and Diane COte found an unfamiliar comment.That evening, Savard received throughoutthe day.A strongcold front thrush in their backyardat Saint-Ful- a phonecall from them that they had swept over the region the following gence(48 ø 27' N, 70ø 54' W), in the identified the bird as a Song Thrush night, and the SongThrush was not ob- Saguenay-Lake-Saint-Jeanregion of (Turdusphilomelos), which they knew servedthereafter. During the week prior Quebec. Due to its secretive behavior would representa first recordof the to thepassage of thisfront, rain and very andbecause it wasseen very infrequent- speciesfor North America. Given the low cloud coverhad persisted,condi- tions that probably kept the thrush groundedduring this time. On 17 No- vember,the last day on which the bird wasobserved, the temperature reached a maximumof 20ø C, which was excep- tionalfor this time of year. Descriptionand identification The SongThrush (Figures 1, 2, 3) ap- pearedintermediate in sizebetween the North American Catharus thrushes and AmericanRobin (Turdusmigratorius). ]'heupperparts were plain grayish brown withoutany obviouspaler or darkerar- easother than in wing coverts(see be- low) and faint, smallpale marks in the crown. The underpartswere whitish, stronglymarked with drop-like,dark brownspots on the chest,flanks, belly, and undertail coverts. A soft russet-buff colorationwas obviouson the upper breastand faintlypresent on the flanks and auriculars. The white throat was framedby darksubmalar stripes, narrow near the chin and broader and more dif- fuse,with severaltiers of stippling,at the Figure1. SongThrush (Turdus philomelos) atSaint-Fulgence, Ou•bec, 16 November 2006. The pattern of the head lower terminus. The malar area was israther cornplex: pale auriculars, mottled with brown and showing a distinct lower/rear border; a mostly pale mostlyoff-white in color,with a few malararea with limited fieeking; a dark submalar mark that broadens atthe lower terminus; a pale eye ring, most flecksof brownbut mostlyclean, in con- distinctat therear of the eye; small pale flecks in the crown; dark brown lores; and an indistinct supraloral spot trastto the auriculars,which were finely weaklyconnected toa faint,narrow superciliary mark. All photographs were taken through awindow from within mottled with brown, and the submalar thephotographers home on this date. œhoto9raph byClaude Samson. markings.The lower/posteriorportion of 166 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS FIRSTNORTH AMERICAN RECORDOF SONG THRUSH the auricularswas outlinedby a dark, brightorange underwings, and more pro- ratherdisunct crescent. The eyeswere nounced auricular borders (MacKinnon dark. A whitisheye ring was mostdis- andPhilips 2000). It hasbeen suggested tinctat the rearof the eye,and a rather thatChinese Thrush forms a superspecies faint,indistinct superciliary arc joined a with SongThrush (Cramp 1988, Sibley faintpale supraloral mark, but the lores and Monroe 1990). (anteriorof the eyering) showeda dark Theyard frequented by thethrush was brown blotch, which was connectedto a well-vegetatedproperty along the an arc of dark featberingthat extended SaguenayRiver planted mainly with posteriorlybelow the eyeinto the auric- White Spruce(Picea glauca), Northern ulars. The tail was rather short, and the White-Cedar (Thuja occidentalis),and wingsappeared the samecolor as the ShowyMountain-Ash (Sorbus alecora). back. The bird spentmost of its time on the In severalof the photographs,a molt groundeating the fallenfruits of Showy limit is clearlyvisible in the upperwing Mountain-Ash and some insects. More coverts,which permits ageing of thisin- rarely,it perchedin thetrees to takefruit. dividualas a hatch-yearbird. The inner Afterfeeding for a fewminutes, it usual- greatercoverts are tippedby weakpale ly disappearedfor periodsof up to two marks(thus freshaduh-type feathers), hours.Very reclusive in the firstdays of whereasthe outercoverts showed larger its visit, it had becomemore confiding rusty-buffterminal spots forming a no- andfed for longerperiods during the last ticeablewing bar (slightlyworn juvenile- fewdays of itsvisit. In general,it seemed type feathers;Svensson 1992). Several a shybird and most frequently remained Figure2. Themolt limit between the juvenile outermost outermedian coverts of the upperwing motionless when disturbed. It often ran greatercoverts and the adult innermost greater coverts, alsoshow buff tips.Three observers saw on the ground,holding its headlow. It wellvisible here, istypical ofa hatch-yearbird. the underwing coverts as the bird wasseen on severaloccasions feeding in PhotographbyClaude Samson. stretchedits wingsbriefly and described thecompany of EuropeanStarlings (Stur- themas orange-buff.The bill appeared nusvulgaris); no interactionswere noted species.Identification of the Saint-Ful- stoutand long--rather similar to thatof betweenthe species. gencebird to subspecieswas not possible American Robin in shape--and was in thefield or fromphotographs, but it is mostlyblackish, with a yellow-orange Discussion reasonableto assumethat this vagrant tomium.The legswere dull grayishpink. Song Thrushesnest commonlyfrom was of the migratory nominate sub- The bird wasobserved only frominside Scandinavia,the British Isles,and north- speciesbased on itspattern of occurrence the house,thus no vocalizationscould be ern Spain eastwardto kake Baikal in to both Greenland and Iceland. heard.The absenceof bands,along with southernSiberia. The specieswinters Outsideits typicalrange, Song Thrush the pristineconditions of the plumage mainly in westernEurope but reaches an annualvagrant in Iceland,with an av- andbare parts, suggest that this bird had northern Africa and the Middle East as erageof 13 to 14 birdsreported per year not beenheld in captivity. far eastas lran. Introducedpopulations between 1979 and 2003, most of these The field marks described above readi- persistin southeasternAustralia and in occurringduring the monthsof October ly eliminatethe North American Cathams New Zealand(Long 1981, Collar2005). and November (<www.hi.is/-yannk/ thrushes,Wood Thrush (Hylocichla Althoughgeographic variation is slight status_turphi.html>).The autumn of mustelina),and Redwing(T iliacus);the and clinal, four subspeciesof Song 2006 hadreports of at least38 individu- lattershows rusty-red flanks, reddish un- Thrush are recognized(Cramp 1988, als in Iceland(the secondhighest num- derwingcoverts, and a distinctbuffy- Collar 2005). In northern and continen- ber on record),including 36 duringthe whitesupercilium. The Song Thrush's au- tal Europe (except in the west), the period12-15 October. Song Thrushes in ricularborder and eye ring are illustrated breedingsubspecies is nominate philome- Icelandhave been mostlyof the nomi- but not mentionedin Europeanfield los. In westernEurope, two subspecies nate subspecies,although three January guides,probably because they are not rel- occur:hebridensis, inhabiting the Outer specimensof hebridensishave been ob- evantin distinguishingSong Thrush from Hebrides and the Isle of Skye, and tained there (Y. Kolbeinsson,pers. similarspecies in Europe,such as Mistle clarkei, residentin the rest of the British comm.). There is also a Greenlandrecord Thrush(T. viscivorus), which has a longer Isles, western and central Netherlands, of a mummifiedSong Thrush of the tail and white underwingcoverts (Jons- Belgium,and northwesternand western nominatesubspecies from June 1982 son1992, Mullarney et al. 1999,Beaman France(Cramp 1988). East of thesesub- (Boertmann 1994, 1998). As Greenland andMadge 1998, Sinclair and Ryan 2003, speciesis T. p. nataliae,which breeds in was not included in the seventh edition Collar 2005). These were, however, central and western Siberia and winters of the AmericanOrnithologists' Unions amongthe detailsthat promptedAuchu in northeastern Africa and southwestern Check-list (A.O.U. 1998), the Saint-Ful- andGirard to considerSong Thrush. Chi- Asia (Collar 2005). Differences in col- genceSong Thrush represents the first neseThrush (T. mupinensis)of central oration,size of spotson the
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