Sighting

[dangerous dave]

Hi, The other day while out I noticed a bird which I did not recognize, I initially though it to be a thrush, however taking note of marking/details etc, I looked through my books at home and immediatlly recognized it as a Swainsons Thrush. I was told after that it would be a very unusual sighting. as its a North American bird. Could I have been wrong.

[PeterB]

Did you check it against Song Thrush??

Song Thrush - Google Search

[RoyW__]

Originally Posted by dangerous dave

Could I have been wrong.

Realistically the only correct answer to this question is "Yes, you could have been wrong".

It is of course also possible that you were right - without any details at all about the bird it really isn't possible to say.
The probability is that it is more likely to have been something more common. There have only been about 30 accepted records of Swainsons Thrush in Britain and Ireland (with only one May record falling outside of the period from late September until the end of October), and there are quite a few common species, and a few rare ones, that could look very similar, but rare birds do turn up in odd places occasionally and there is always the possibility of finding something out of place.

If you can describe the bird, in as much detail as possible, it might be possible to suggest other species that might be more likely - but without a good photo it is most often impossible to confirm identifications.

[magpie]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swainson's_Thrush

try this link, I would have thought it unlikely as Peter said more likely a song or mistle thrush.

[dangerous dave]

Thanks all for the reply's, yes it is a pity i did not have my camera with me, unfortunatly all I had to go by was memory. Thankyou.

[astafjevs]

Are you familiar with redwings, Dave. They often don't look as red as the name suggests.

[dangerous dave]

Hi, thanks for the reply, yes I am familiar with the redwing, it was when I sighted the bird it was one that I did not recognise. However thanks for the suggestion.