I managed to get some decidedly mediocre photographs of the Varied Thrush
in Montpelier this afternoon: http://www.vermontbirdtours.com/variedthrush.html

(It's a digi-scope shot through a Nikon Coolpix 4500 hand-held to a Kowa
TSN-824 scope in lousy light.)

I believe there are something like four subspecies of Varied Thrush; I know
very little about each of them. (I think the females figure prominently in
their identification.) Anyway, this individual appears to be a first-winter
bird (or maybe even an adult female). It did show some faint rusty edges to
the feathers on the crown, nape and mantle (not visible in my photo). The
photo also makes that face patch look a bit darker than it really is. Yet
it's possible that the patch is dark enough for this bird to be a
first-winter male (assuming that that age class has a faint breast band and
generally gray back -- rather than clean blue-gray -- and crown). But I'm
no expert on this species.

In any event, the bird seemed to hang close to the trunk, about halfway up
the Norway spruce above the bird feeders visible from the Vermont Housing
and Conservation Board (VHCB) parking lot on State Street just west of
Bailey Avenue. It looks alert and fairly healthy. Before I left, it took
off for the larger cluster of Norway spruce behind the VHCB offices.

Enjoy.

Bryan Pfeiffer

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Vermont Bird Tours
113 Bartlett Road
Plainfield, VT 05667

Web:    www.VermontBirdTours.com
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Phone: (802) 454-4640

Enjoy Life.  Watch Birds!
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