White's Thrush

[Ted Parker]

As many will know from the 'Sightings' page on the Website, Don Page and I had a remarkable and unforgettable experience whilst seawatching at Hartlepool on 8th October.  We were sitting in our usual spot along the front of the Heugh Lighthouse, due the the light wind and relatively mild conditions.  The seawatching had been very quiet, despite a light to fresh northwesterly wind and Don and I were remarking that it was going to be one of those days when nothing of note was going to happen.  How wrong we proved to be.

At about 11.35 BST, Don alerted me to a passerine coming in off the sea about 500m away.  The light and viewing conditions were ideal and I managed to get onto it quickly with bins and we both watched the bird as it approached closer.  It was flying quite low over the sea with direct flight, interspersed with low undulations, superficially recalling a Starling at first.  Fortunately, its angle of flight meant that it was coming directly towards us from an oblique easterly direction.  As it approached closer, we both quickly agreed that the bird was in fact a thrush and our thoughts immediately turned to one of the common species often seen making landfalls at Hartlepool at this time of year - Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Song Thrush or Redwing.  The alarm bells starting ringing, however, as the bird approached within about 200m: clearly it wasn't any of these, as it was large, 'pointed at both ends' and looked quite pale in front-end views.

The bird made a landfall over the promenade only about 30m away and flew over the fence and along the top of the stone wall that leads down to the prom from the toilet block to our left-hand-side.  It was laterally lit by the sun and, although only in view at close range for about 10-12 seconds or so, its large size (at least 10-15% bigger than a Mistle Thrush), golden-brown plumage, bold black crescents on the upper- and underparts and, most significantly, its very distinctive black and white-striped underwing (typical of Zoothera thrushes) resulted in us both shouting "White's Thrush" simultaneously.  The bird was only 20m away and this enabled us to see the large, dark eye with rather pale lores and eye surround; robust long bill; and dark mark behind the eye.  The head and upperparts were a beautiful golden brown and the whole plumage (except for the ventral area) was liberally marked with bold, black crescents, except for the pure white ventral area.  It was a large, solid thrush, with rather long, broad-based wings.  Unfortunately, the experience was over too quickly and the bird disappeared behind the toilet block and presumably kept going.  It looked tired and always flew low down, even when making a landfall.

Needless to say, Don and I were in a state of shock and almost incapable of speech!  We just stared at each other in disbelief and I remeber literally shaking with excitement.  After all, one doesn't expect to see a White's Thrush on a seawatch at Hartlepool - especially a first for Cleveland!  While Don 'phoned Rare Bird Alert, I scribbled down some notes and then rang other local birders to put word out but, sadly, it wasn't seen again.  Now a month later, Don and I still talk about the sheer luck of seeing such a mega. It it could have made a landfall anywhere along the British east coast but kindly chose to do so only a few metres from where we were sitting, moaning about yet another quiet day!

It is interesting to note that the Autumn of 2008 proved to be a good year for White's Thrushes, with possibly up to as many as 4 or 5 in the Northern Isles and another in a mainland wood in Aberdeenshire not long after our record.

I have seen White's Thrush before, with 2 during a birding trip to Hong Kong in 1984 and 19 in China in 2000, but this was my first for the Western Palearctic.  Don also saw a similar number in China the same year on our three-week birding trip to Beidaihe.  However, this one definitely takes the prize as the most rewarding!