Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius
Varied Thrush, male, 2/16/07, Stevens Creek Park
Varied Thrush aren't exactly rarities in the SF Bay Area, part of their regular wintering grounds, but they certainly aren't easy to find, and as they tend to frequent dark shaded forest habitat, are even harder to photograph. This pair, male above, female below, were at a picnic area in Stevens Creek Park and let me get close enough for my first decent pictures of this attractive species. The male can be recognized by his darker breast band.
Varied Thrush, female, 2/16/07, Stevens Creek Park
Varied Thrush, 2/21/07, my yard, Stanford Campus
Just five days after I'd finally ended years of frustrating effort to photograph Varied Thrush with the pair above, one showed up in my yard and posed for this shot in my fountain!
Varied Thrush, male, 5/16/08, Galileo Hill, Kern Co
Varied Thrush, male, 6/3/11, Kougarok Road, Nome, AK
My companions and I on our Alaska bird photography expedition were able to get good photos of this male Varied Thrush after we heard his unmistakeable and haunting single-note song in the woods along the Kougarok Road north of Nome.