Rare Bird Report View

When:

Dec 10, 2020

Who:

Where:

County:

Location:

Exact Site:
Rt. 61 retention ponds

Details: (To view more text, grab the lower-right corner of a field to widen or lengthen the box)

For older records, view original documentation here.

How Many:

Age/Plumage/Sex:
Female

Viewing Conditions:
Clear to partly cloudy

Optics Used:
Canon SX70 HS Camera

Description:
Saw this bird from the car, standing on a cut tree stump. I thought it was a mockingbird from eye distance, so I pulled the camera out to zoom in on it. I was only able to get this one photo of the bird and I admit the quality is not that great, but gave me more definition of what I was looking at. Before the photo shot the bird was standing directly on top of the stump and had rather longish black legs. It backed up a bit to the edge of the uneven bark so that only the top of it's black legs appear in the photo. I tried to reposition the car and turn the engine off to get more clarity and additional photos but the bird was gone after the maneuver this photo is all I could get unfortunately. The bird exhibits a straight black beak, brownish gray head cap, straight white eyebrow, dark eye into brownish gray behind and below the eye. The upper feathers were also brownish gray with some slight checkered white in the upper portion of the wing and slight indication of white wing barring. The tail feathers are quite short, in a deeper brown color on top and white on the underside. The upper underbelly is buffy colored from below the beak to it's feet while the lower underbelly from the feet to it's tail is white, with an appearance of white under the wing feathers.

Behavior:
The bird was sitting on a stump overlooking a low grassy area that has a small amount of water draining through it.

Separation from similar species:
I have eliminated a female Baltimore Oriole as well as the Northern Mockingbird.

Discussion:
It would seem late in the fall season to see this bird but my readings indicate that there are a greater number of the Greenland variety than in years past and a few lose there way south from the normal migration route out of NE Canada across the Atlantic Ocean and then down to Africa to winter. PORC data has shown sightings in Berks County and other Pennsylvania sites although rare and mostly in October.

How positive are you about the identification:
Yes, others have spotted the bird the next day and it has been confirmed by ebird reviewer Holly Merker.

eBird Link(s)

https://ebird.org/checklist/S77327195

References:

After the observation:
I have reviewed all of the photos and descriptions of this bird on Ebird, as well as Stokes, Sibley and National Geographic. They lead me to this specie of bird.

Media:

Photos and Drawings

Videos

Audio Recordings