10/13/2020
On May 31, 2010 Marcus Ponce found the first record of Red-legged Thrush in the A.B.A area (American Birding Association). This area includes birds seen north of Mexico and includes Alaska and Canada. Marcus found the bird at Maritime Hammock Sanctuary Brevard County, Florida.
On April 25, 2019 Henry Detweiller found a Red-legged Thrush at Lantana Preserve in Palm Beach County.
On June 26, 2019 Frank Schena found a Red-Legged Thrush at South Pointe Park on South Beach, Miami Beach.
On October 10, 2020 David Essian and Julia Roblyer found a Red-legged Thrush at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens located on Stock Island.
If I remember correctly, when the Maritime Hammock Preserve bird was first found, nobody knew about it that day. Jim Eager who lives near that area discovered the sighting I believe on a local Audubon site where Marcus posted it. It was either the next day after the sighting or perhaps two days later, other birders looked without success. I spent the day there on either the third or fourth day after the sighting without success.
When the Lantana bird was found, I heard about it around 3:00 p.m. on a Friday. I thought; do I really want to deal with the Miami traffic on a Friday afternoon and drive up to Palm Beach to see that bird? No I did not but that cost me the bird. I went the following day and did not see the bird although there was a Bahama Mockingbird present which was nice.
When the Miami Beach bird showed up, we were not in town. We got back the day before the last sighting of the bird. We went the next day, no bird. Later in the day it was seen again so I went back, because of traffic I got there too late and never saw the bird.
When I heard about the bird on Stock Island near Key West I thought, I still have a chance to see this cool bird in the A.B.A. area. I have seen just about every subspecies of Red-legged Thrush where they normally occur. From the northern Bahamas over to Cuba and east to Puerto Rico. When I saw the first photos of the Stock Island bird, I knew that it was the western Cuban subspecies which has never been seen in the A.B.A. area. The previous three sightings were all of the Bahamas subspecies.
Yesterday October 11, 2020 I awoke early to drive down to Stock Island to search for the current Red-legged Thrush. I arrived about 40-minutes before the opening time which is a super late 10:00 a.m. opening time. I was soon joined by other birders, we waited until the gates opened. I drove in and parked and then paid the $10 entrance fee and went to the area where it was sighted the day before. Not seeing it here I walked along the trail towards the east end of the park. I heard a quiet yell but wasn't sure of that was from a birder. As I walked closer it was Kevin Christman who was the one trying to alert other birders as he had found the bird! An excellent job by Kevin, he ran to get other birders while I kept my eye on the bird. Everyone present got great looks at the bird!
So......I guess the fourth time was the charm! I've included photos of the Red-legged Thrush Turdus plumbeus rubribes (western Cuban subspecies) as well as the Red-legged Thrush (Turdus Plumbius) from the Bahamas. Check out how different they look, the Cuban one has the reddish underside which makes it quite distinct! I would not be surprised if these two subspecies get split into two distinct species, that would be nice.
