[Tweeters] Varied Thrush past and present

[Steve Hampton via Tweeters]

Two noteworthy additions to the Varied Thrush references:

- an illustration from the famous Lapérouse expedition in 1786. I've got it
here at the bottom of this post:
https://thecottonwoodpost.net/2022/11/08/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-california-bee-eater-of-1786/

- and a delightful song and video from Sparkbird in 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xwSzhOpZbU






On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM Diann MacRae via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Hi, Tweets

>

> I have copies of all the Bent books and would be glad to share them but

> have no idea how to copy them out. The thrush writings are quite

> interesting as are most of his histories. If you live near Bothell, you're

> welcome to come over and read them!

>

> Cheers, Diann

>

>

> *Sent:* Monday, January 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM

> *From:* "Dan Reiff via Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> *To:* "Blythe Horman" <blythe.horman at gmail.com>

> *Cc:* tweeters at u.washington.edu

> *Subject:* [Tweeters] Arthur Cleveland Bent “Pacific Varied Thrush: I owe

> my introduction to this large and elegant thrush to my old friend Samuel F

> Rathbone, who first showed it to me in the vicinity of Seattle, and who has

> given me a wealth of information on it in his copious notes. While we were

> waiting for the good ship Tacoma to sail for Aleutian Islands, in May 1911,

> he helped our party to locate for two weeks in the then small town of

> Kirkland across Lake Washington from Seattle —Re: Robins and Varied Thrush

> 

> Hello Tweeters,

> Varied thrushes are one of my favorite species.

> To add to the great discussion:

> 1. I have heard them until the last day of May, the last four years on the

> southern end of Mercer Island. They may nest there.

> 2. I reviewed the literature from 1911, Life Histories of North American

> Thrushes, Kinglets, and Their Allies (author: Arthur Cleveland Bent).

> He and others did field research near Kirkland, WA and other areas near

> Lake Washington. They reported nesting in those areas.

> I have photographed eight pages of that book and would like to share them

> with tweeters, but do not have a way of doing so.

> I will send them to Blythe, Gary, Dennis and Connie in hopes they have a

> way of sharing the page photos with Tweeters. If someone else a way of

> sharing the book page photos please contact me and I will send them to you.

> It is interesting, great read.

> Best regards,

> Dan Reiff

>

> Sent from my iPhone

>

> > On Jan 12, 2025, at 6:02 PM, Blythe Horman via Tweeters <

> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> > Thanks everyone for your research on this, especially Robert Bletsch

> for looking at historical records in books. I have seen varied thrushes

> very occasionally during the spring and summer, and my conclusion parallels

> Robert’s direct quotes. That is, Varied Thrushes nested in the Puget Sound

> Lowlands until urbanization destroyed their habitat. Then, like many

> animals, they were forced to breed in more inaccessible, mountainous areas.

> Also like many animals, in the last 10-25 years, some individuals have

> begun to return to the lowlands to attempt breeding. How successful this

> will be remains to be seen. Are there banding records available?

> >

> > I think this recolonization of suburban areas is not an uncommon

> phenomenon. That’s why we now have human-wildlife interaction experts, in

> the hopes of resolving conflicts with particularly charismatic or feared

> animals such as cougars, bears, and coyotes without the old method of

> simply killing the animal.

> >

> > As another example of a large, noticeable animal recolonizing degraded

> habitat, look at the humpback whale in Puget Sound. Unheard of when I moved

> here in 1991, they are now common enough to be feature prominently in whale

> watching tour advertising.

> >

> > I assume many birds (and other small native wildlife) are attempting to

> recolonize historical lowland breeding areas, but since they’re not

> particularly charismatic or usually problematic to non-birders, they don’t

> get much, if any, mainstream notice. They fly under under the radar, as it

> were.

> >

> >

> > _______________________________________________

> > Tweeters mailing list

> > Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

>



-- 
Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20250113/c2558fac/attachment.html>