Rare Bird Alert: Redwing, Turdus iliacus, in Seward, Alaska

The last four days Alaskan Birders have been flocking to Seward, Alaska to see a Eurasian species, a Redwing, Turdus iliacus. This is the first record of a Redwing in Alaska and only the second on the west coast of America.

I made the 125 mile drive to Seward, Nov. 18, 2011, to take these photos.

The Redwing has been spending most it's the time between two beach side summer homes. It can be easly observed from the ocean side, of the public beach. However, there have been strong north winds, with temperatures well below freezing.

Heard about this record a couple of days ago - it even made the bird news over here. Congrats on getting it, I'd been wondering how long till it featured on here ;-)

I'd suspect it's been there for a while but only got found when the bad weather forced it out of the forests onto the beach. The wintering Redwings here mostly arrived a month ago.

Here's one 'at home' for comparison

Resin

About a dozen bird watchers were standing on the beach, when I arrived. The scopes and cameras were all pointing in the same direction, no trouble locating the rare Redwing. Everyone was dressed for the ski slopes, and still cold, in the strong wind.

Thanks for posting this Gary!

Wow, what an exciting find. Glad you made the journey to see this beautiful bird.

Your photos are wonderful!

Not the only intercontinental lost bird this autumn, there's been a Greater Yellowlegs done the reverse here, from Arctic canada to a nature reserve near me - here it is with a Grey Phalarope (a.k.a. Red Phalarope, and likely also from Arctic Canada)

Resin

While from completely the opposite direction, this Eastern Black Redstart is from Central Asia

"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet" . . . but when you're birding, they can!

Resin

Congrats to you both for your sightings....How awesome!

Dusky Thrush (Turdus naumanni) Photographed on Lord Baranof Dr, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 1/18/2012.

Thank you for the update Resin.


The Dusky Thrush is another Eurasian species which has been seen in Anchorage occasionally since mid December. At least five “Big Year” birders have flown to Anchorage attempting to see it. Only two were successful to the best of my knowledge.
Out of dozens of attempts to see it, I have succeeded four times. Twice, before today, I got pictures, but the whether was so dark and stormy both times the pictures were very poor quality.


This message was edited Jan 21, 2012 10:19 AM

The Dusky Thrush is with a flock of American Robins wintering over in Anchorage. Finding it involves driving around looking for Robins feeding on frozen berries still on trees. I stopped to check out a couple of Robins this afternoon, 1/18/2011. I took two pictures of a Robin in a frost covered cherry tree, when the Dusky Thrush and several Robins landed on the driveway in front of me. They ate cherries which had fallen to the ground. I turned the camera on rapid fire and took 21 pictures, before they flew off, to the east. All of the pictures are time stamped exactly 2:00 PM. The Dusky Thrush had been in front of me less than one minute. We were never able to relocate the Dusky Thrush, or any of the half dozen Robins seen with it. I finaly got some acceptable pictures.

In exactly two months time I have been able to photograph not one, but two extremely rare birds.

This is one of the American Robin pictures I was taking, when the Dusky Thrush flew in and landed. It would have been even better if Dusky had landed in better light on the frosted tree.

Excellent bird to get! Name update: now Turdus eunomus (recently split from Naumann's Thrush T. naumanni)

Unlike Redwing, equally rare over here, it's an Asia-only bird.

Resin

Congratulations Gary!

Wow Gary how awesome for you....Congratulations!!

Congratulations Gary! The photos of the thrush are wonderful.

Don't forget BirdFiles ;-) here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/go/2913/

Resin

Oh that must of been a thrill to see those two rare birds, very interesting that they are in such cold locations, and have not migrated to warmer area.
Congratulation to you both on getting pictures of these unusual.