Eyebrowed Thrush - November 11, 2012

Eyebrowed Thrush Turdus obscurus

  After having a planned Saturday trip to a nearby offshore island scuttled by extremely high winds, it was good to get out and get a full day’s birding in at ‘Grey Bunting Mountain’. On the way, I heard several Chinese Penduline Tits calling from a reedbed.
  Aside from the expected forest mix of tits and woodpeckers, with several Goldcrests mixed in, I spied my first Red-flanked Bluetail of the winter, a shy female tail-flicking near the peak.
  Soon after this, I heard several thrushes calling from deeper in the woods, and their calls sounded a bit thin and different from the Pale Thrushes I encounter there regularly. I made my way to a remote gravesite fringed with fruiting berry trees and hunkered down. I put my camouflaged rain poncho over my head, and covered my face with a camouflage scarf. I covered my legs with fallen pine branches and waited. I wasn't messing around, ha ha.
  About 45 minutes later, six Eye-browed Thrush returned and casually fed on the berries for ten minutes. A special birding moment, and a real treat to watch! (Best latin name ever, too)