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Figure 1. The habitat in Maritime Hammock Sanctuary, Brevard County, Florida where the Red-legged Thrush was found is best described as maritime hammock, in this case dominated by Live Oak, Marlberry,
Cabbage Palm, and Red Bay. In the northern Bahamas, the species is commonly found in very similar habitats. Image taken 2 June 2010, near the site of the thrush observation. Photograph by Bill Pranty.
Abstract
FIRST RECORD OF RED-LEGGED THRUSH FOR FLORIDA AND THE NORTH AMERICAN MAINLAND
nally walked toward it to exit the trail. It foraged by hopping, sometimes running short
distances, occasionally using its bill to scatter
and sometimes flip the leaves, reminiscent of
a foraging American Robin (Turdus migratorius), but the bird was not observed eating.
That evening, Marcus Ponce looked through
his field guides and identified bird as a Redlegged Thrush (T. plumbeus). When he realized the importance of the find, he posted the
sighting to a the local listserve. The next day,
beginning at dawn, he and at least a dozen
other birders searched the area throughout
the day, but the thrush was never relocated.
The Red-legged Thrush at Maritime Hammock Sanctuary was about the size of an
American Robin. It was rather uniform slaty
gray, with a bluish cast, slightly lighter below
and on the wings. The chin and proximal
malar areas were pure white; the throat and
distal malar areas were black, as were the
lores. The inner webs of the greater upperwing coverts and flight feathers were black,
whereas the outer webs were about the same
slate-gray color as the breast, belly, sides,
flanks, and undertail coverts. The tail was
blackish, with white tips on the outer rectrices seen briefly when the bird flew. The bill
and eyes were dark, and the orbital rings were
red, as were the tarsi and toes. The plumage
was in good condition; the tips of the rectrices showed some wear but not excessive if
feathers had been replaced when the thrush
last molted (perhaps eight or nine months
prior). The bird showed no signs of having
been in captivity recently. It remained at distances of at least 7.5 meters in front of the observers, never seeming especially wary until
they approached too closely.
Maritime Hammock Sanctuary is a 61hectare park located on a main barrier island
adjacent to Archie Carr National Wildlife
Refuge. The hiking trail is 4 kilometers long,
traversing coastal wetlands, coastal strand,
maritime hammock, and mangrove forests. The
Red-legged Thrush was located in a maritime
hammock. The relatively short canopy was
composed primarily of Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), Marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides),
Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto), and Red Bay
(Persea borbonia), with a dominant understory
of wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa), Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), Saw Palmetto
(Serenoa repens), and Snowberry (Chiococca
alba). Ground cover included Virginia Creeper
(Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Muscadine (Vitis
rotundifolia), and Earleaf Greenbriar (Smilax
auriculata). The local weather on 30 and 31
May 2010 included rain and thunderstorms
with winds out of the east-southeast and southeast at 8-17 knots, with gusts up to 22 knots.
Figure 2. When first discovered at Maritime Hammock Sanctuary, Brevard County, Florida 31 May 2010, the Red-legged Thrush was
striking even at a distance because of its red orbital rings and reddish legs, visible in this photograph. The dark tail shows slight wear,
as does much of the body plumage, normal for an adult in the Bahamas in late May. Photograph by Marcus S. Ponce.
Figure 3. During twenty minutes of observation, the Red-legged Thrush was noted to have a restricted amount of white in the chin and
adjacent malar areas, surrounded by blackish plumage. As seen in this image and Figure 2, the inner webs of the greater upperwing
coverts and remiges were dark, with the outer webs a similar shade of slaty gray as the underparts. Photograph by Marcus S. Ponce.
Identification
Red-legged Thrush is a West Indian congener
of American Robin, and it exhibits similar
habits, including being a common visitor to
gardens and lawns as well as inhabiting tropical deciduous, montane and lowland evergreen, and secondary forests from sea level to
1200 meters. It is resident in Cuba, the Isle of
Youth, Cayman Brac, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico,
Dominica, the northern Bahamas, and formerly Hondurass Swan Islands (A.O.U.
1998). The nearest Red-legged Thrush population to Floridas Atlantic coast occurs on
Grand Bahama Island (White 1998). West
End on Grand Bahama is 108 kilometers from
West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Flori-
FIRST RECORD OF RED-LEGGED THRUSH FOR FLORIDA AND THE NORTH AMERICAN MAINLAND
Figure 4. The Red-legged Thrush at Maritime Hammock Sanctuary was seen only near the southern terminus of the trail, where it
foraged in leaf litter on the trail. It could be identified as a bird of the nominate subspecies (restricted to the northern Bahamas) by
its dark bill, which rules out four other subspecies (schistaceus, rubripes, coryi, and ardosiaceus), which have mostly reddish bills, as
well albiventris, which has a yellowish bill and legs. These five subspecies also show more white in the throat than the nominate and
show pale buff or orange in the flanks and ventral area, lacking in the Bahamian birds. Photograph by Marcus S. Ponce.
Discussion
The question of provenance is often raised
when a West Indian species appears in Florida, not only because Florida is an important
FIRST RECORD OF RED-LEGGED THRUSH FOR FLORIDA AND THE NORTH AMERICAN MAINLAND
Conclusions
The Red-legged Thrush found 31 May 2010 at
Melbourne Beach was in suitable habitat for
the species, showed no signs of having been
in captivity, and was 220 kilometers from the
nearest population in the Bahamas. Although
the species does not seem prone to vagrancy
in recent times, strong southeasterly winds on
that date, or the day before, could have assisted this birds passage to Brevard County. Of
course, there is no way of knowing if, or how
long, the bird was in the United States or at
that location prior to its discovery. More than
twenty West Indian taxa of birds appear annually or sporadically in Florida, and a further seven have been documented in the state
fewer than four times. The available evidence
suggests that the Melbourne Beach Redlegged Thrush was unlikely to have been assisted in its journey by humans or by ships,
and we conclude that this species is most likely a very low-level natural vagrant to Florida,
such as Cuban Pewee and Loggerhead Kingbird. This Red-legged Thrush record was
unanimously accepted by the Florida Or-
Acknowledgments
Phyllis Mansfield provided information about
the flora at Maritime Hammock Sanctuary;
Paul W. Sykes, Jr., Larry Manfredi, Timothy
Brush, Jack Eitniear, and Anthony White provided information about Red-legged Thrush
and other thrushes in captivity; Dr. Walter K.
Taylor and Anthony White provided information that improved an early draft of the manuscript; and Bill Pranty furnished photographs of the habitat at Maritime Hammock
Sanctuary. All have our gratitude for their assistance with this paper.
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