Varied Thrush

 

February 11th

          On Thursday February 3rd a family in Richfield, Ohio which is halfway between Cleveland and Akron, spotted a very rare Varied Thrush in their yard.  They are birder friendly but had no street parking and limited parking in their driveway.  Therefore, to accommodate all the interested birders, they set up a reservation system.  We found out about this on Monday February 7th and the first available reservation was for this afternoon.  Basically, you were given a one-hour time slot to see the bird. 

          The weather forecast was horrible (90% chance of rain and 20-30mph winds) but this was our only opportunity.  It was a 2-hr. drive, but we arrived about 45 minutes early and found a place to park.  We stood around for about an hour and a half until the bird finally showed up.  We got very brief looks at the thrush which seemed to be very skittish. While we were waiting around, a big flock of wild turkeys came to the feeders. This was an unexpected bonus bird for us.  As it turns out, the weather was not as bad as the forecast.  It was relatively calm with just a little drizzle so we lucked out.

          On the way home, we stopped at the Miller Street Pier in Avon, Ohio which is next to a power plant that has a warm water discharge and open water.  By this time the wind and rain had increased, the weather was nasty, but we were able to find a female Surf Scoter that had been reported.  All and all, it was a very productive afternoon.

(3 new species, total 126)

                                         Wild Turkey

                                         Varied Thrush (very rare)

                                         Surf Scoter (Scarce)

                                                Varied Thrush (male) not Mike's photo

                                                                            Wild Turkey



                                     








Comments

  1. AnnFebruary 12, 2022 at 5:58 AM

    Hurray! Worth the trip for that very rare varied thrush.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John SobetzerFebruary 12, 2022 at 6:13 AM

    That Varied Thrush needs an agent. He could make a lot of nut and berry bucks just by showing up.

    ReplyDelete

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