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Posted by Alex Harper on 12:54:36 10/14/12
In Reply to: Could it have been a Gray-cheeked Thrush? posted by Tracy Farrington
Swainson's Thrushes are regular migrants through Florida this time of year, and usually outnumber Gray-cheeked Thrushes.
It is difficult to give you the odds of it being a Gray-cheeked versus a Swainson's, but it should be less than 50%, but that doesn't mean too much.
When a species in the Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush complex are observed in Florida, it is almost always assumed that the individuals are Gray-cheeked. However, flight call data and several birds caught at banding stations confirm that Bicknell's are present along the Atlantic coast of Florida in very low but regular numbers.
If I had to give an order of the most frequently observed "brown-backed thrush" species along the Atlantic coast of the state during October, I'd say Swainson's, Veery, Gray-cheeked, Hermit (usually later), Wood, Bicknell's is fairly accurate.
Alex
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