REDWING in PA! ~ February 5, 2005

No, not Red-winged Blackbird; a Redwing! Turdus iliacus!
August Mirabella was birding with a fairly new birder, Jessica Huff, at Peace Valley Park in Bucks County when she pointed out a bird that looked different from the group of American Robins that it was with. August called Devich Farbotnik, who helped confirm the bird's identification. Word was spread. I picked up Arlene Koch and we called a few other people along the way. Although the bird was originally found in a field, when we got there it was in an adjacent backyard, just east of the park property. It tossed leaves around in the open patches of grass in the yard with the Robins. After flying up to the top of one of the trees at the back edge of the yard, it dropped down into a more brushy area. Eventually, it was relocated in the brush along the edge of the field. I struggled to get a few barely-identifiable photos of it.

Redwing at Peace Valley Park, Bucks County. This distant 'videograb' shows the whitish eyebrow on the head, the heavily-streaked breast, and the rusty flank patch. This 1st Pennsylvania record was also only the 3rd record for the United States!

Redwing at Peace Valley Park, Bucks County. This distant, blurry 'videograb' was included because it shows the bird with its wings extended. Note the rusty wing linings located between the two vertical vines. The whitish eyebrow can be seen on the head of the bird, which is just to the left of the left vertical vine. This 1st Pennsylvania record was also only the 3rd record for the United States!
It was a shock to see an extremely rare record within an hour from home. As if the sighting wasn't amazing enough, it was also my 700th ABA Area bird!

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