Unexpected

It was of those birding days where I got some birds I expected and a bird I really did not expect. I started the day looking for a reported Rough-legged Hawk in East Greenwich (about 45 minutes away) - No luck, but it was close to Marsh Point where I wanted to try to upgrade my Nelson's Sparrow photo - got a few marginally better.

Then I stopped at Galilee Escape Road on the way home, just because I felt like it. That is where I saw the Gray-cheeked Thrush, which I did not expect. Pretty rare bird -- reported most often in audio flyovers but only 38 times in total on eBird. It is not a life bird for me because I saw it last year in a Bird banding, but it is a year bird and very exciting to see it. The habitat (marshy brush - usually deep woods bird) and behavior (perched on a somewhat high branch for several minutes) usually skulking low in the woods. It didn't look like a Hermit Thrush, but I wasn't sure it was a Gray-cheeked either. After consulting a number of other birders, the eBird monitor gave me the thumbs up -- because the bird is the color of a moldy avocado. Hummmm... ok, whatever works. I wish it had stayed around so that others could see it, but it seems to be gone. The icing on the cake was a visit with a late-ish Green Heron. A good day!