May 27, 2007 Catharus enigmus

I have one of those dilemmas that sometimes face birders at my skill level. Walking along the lookout a Thrush of the genus catharus, popped up to look at me just a few feet away. The bird was at eye level and in good light. It didn’t look right. It was so small for this genus, almost warbler sized, and while it looked like a Gray-cheeked Thrush, it was too brown. OK, a Veery then, but look at those bold dark spots on the breast, not a Veery, Hermit Thrush? but that it is not right, the spots are not bold enough and there is no red on the tail a Bicknell’s Thrush! a one in a million bird here, and I don’t have my camera. A lifer too. Try as I might I just cannot make this bird into one of the more likely catharus species. Here I am, by myself, 4 feet from what would be only the 2nd record in Ohio of this species. All I can do is eye this bird. Look at it in disbelief and try to convince myself I am not seeing what I am seeing. That does not work. I am seeing what I am seeing, and I cannot make the bird more gray green of give it a red tail or fade the breast spots. Then it is gone, It has dropped down over the edge.

So what do I do? I come home and look in Sibley. Yep, Bicknell’s is the size of a Hermit Thrush but looks like a brownish Gray-cheeked. I draw a picture and write down my observations. I would much rather have this be a Hermit Thrush or a Gray-cheeked. Something more expected. Am I certain about what I observed? Yes. Did I get a good look? Yes, from only 4 feet away I studied this bird for more than a minute. Am I certain this was a Bicknell’s Thrush. No. I have no experience with this species and can only rely upon my memory.

I have another problem. This bird will be irreproducible. It is migration, it will not stick around. It is in a difficult place, too. Unless it would come up to the edge again, it is in a pretty inaccessible area. What to do? Larry, ever the skeptic and seemingly unable to understand how someone can go through a process of critical thinking, will say I made a mistake. He only believes pictures. In this case I do not have enough evidence to even convince myself. There is another aspect to my dilemma. Honesty and integrity. For me these include not lying through omission. Omitting or not telling is every bit as much a lie as adding detail or plain making something up. I can only be honest when I report exactly what I remember observing. Still, this bird goes down in my book as catharus enigmus... That’s the way it is sometimes.