Around 11:30 a.m. the sun sent the first tentative rays through thick clouds which contained heavy rain only minutes before. In the afternoon of the previous day, a Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus) was sighted in a flock of Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris). In a 3rd attempt and after a good 2 hours of waiting the salvation happend: the Dusky Thrush appeard. This vagrant bird, which had been spotted already on February 7, 2023 on the outskirts of Berlin on the adjacent site to a tree nursery not far from the airport Berlin-Brandenburg (BER).
This time – 1 month later – the Thrush showed quite inconspicuous in a small flock with Fieldfares and Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). How important it was to take the spotting scope was shown again and again when searching the tall poplars. Quite a few birders had already been happy; and yet only seen one of the Redwings (Turdus iliacus) in the flocks of Fieldfares.
The Dusky Thrush stayed in the tree on the eastern edge of the cemetery until bird watchers approached the tree from a horse trail. A little later she appeared on the meadow surrounded by hedges south of the cemetery at the paddock. From there she could be observed from the cemetery in the adjacent thicket as she hesitantly scurried through the branches. Birdwatchers approaching from behind and birdwatchers waiting in the direction of movement made the Dusky Thrush to cross the entire meadow and briefly take a seat in dense bushes at the edge of the paddock. But then she came out of the thicket and could be observed and photographed very well and for a long time while staying in an open place and also looking for food on the pasture. The Dusky Thrush only disappeared again into a hedge when pedestrians walked along the asphalt path that ran parallel to it. There she could be seen resting with her back to the observer for quite a long time. Other observers said they heard her singing softly too. This was not audible or recognizable during this sighting.
It is remarkable that within 2 years a Dusky Thrush has been sighted again in Germany. At the previous time, the Dusky Thrush was sighted in the middle of the Erzgebirge (Iron Mountains) near Stollberg, south-west of Chemnitz in south-eastern Germany in a flock of Fieldfares. A Dusky Thrush found on Heligoland 6 years ago was the only other report that can be found on the Birder website ornitho.de for Germany.
For bird-lens.com a nice addition to the Germany and Western Palaearctic list image portfolio. So far I had only seen the Dusky Thrush in eastern China, where it occurs quite frequently as a winter visitor.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places like this one to capture images not only of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. The nice image of the blog is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Picture Shop” very soon. Just give bird-lens.com a message, if bird-lens.com could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.