I am familiar with the Berkshire, MA birding community and subscribe to the local bird club (Hoffmann Bird Club) hotline. Though I initially heard first hand from the birders who looked unsuccessfully for the bird, this is the detailed portion of the hotline about the Redwing sighting:
> Hoffmann Bird Club Hotline > Bird Sightings: > > *****Unusual Bird Sighting***** > Kate is asking permission of the stables for people to come and try to find > this bird. Please try to get a photo of it, if it is sighted and send to > Seth Kellogg. More info will be sent out as obtained - Audrey W. > From Scott Jervas, Berkshire Museum > > My girlfriend Kate Edwards made a special sighting yesterday [12/29/10], a > Redwing - not a red wing black bird, a European Redwing. If it was anyone > else I wouldn’t believe them, but this is the person who, when last > questioned in the field, her professor was wrong and she had discovered a new > species. She saw it at Sebring Stables in Richmond, through a window, from > perhaps 15-20 feet away for some time. She recognized it immediately as a > thrush from how it moved, but also knew immediately that she was not familiar > with it – so she studied it carefully. When she got home she looked up > thrushes and found it fairly quickly. She also watched Youtube videos like > this one: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWYpGFEUtLs&feature=related > > She is certain of it; she watched that video and said “That’s the bird I > saw.” As you can see from what she wrote below she tried to get a photo of > it today but couldn’t find it, but she would like to report the sighting even > though it’s not verified. If you’d like to call her her number is (413) > 446-3108. In the “Cc” line her address is the “daintyhyena” one, my non-work > address is the “strangepilgrims” one. I already told Norma Purdy about it > today. From her email: > > > > Make sure the bird club people know that the stables are a private property > > and they need to ask for permission if they want to walk around, > > > So I searched for, and did not find the redwing today at Sebring stables, so > no photographs. It was a quiet day for birds at the farm today, and I'm not > surprised since the far flung vagrants rarely stick around for any length of > time. > > > So I decided that I do in fact wish to report this sighting without a > photograph, despite the likelihood of widespread disbelief. If Berkshire > county birders familiarize themselves with the species, it is possible it > could be seen again and even photographed. Because I immediately identified > it as an exotic thrush worth carefully observing, I was able to very clearly > memorize its appearance, and there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever of its > positive ID as a redwing. I was very lucky to observe the bird at length, in > close proximity, with the knowledge that I was seeing something unusual that > needed to be painstakingly memorized. I know I am absolutely the worst when > it comes to incredulity in regards to other people IDing birds and reptiles, > so I do not expect this exceptionally rare sighting to be widely appreciated > without some proof. However, I do want to make sure that the right people > hear about it in case someone else is able to spot it, or another individual > of the same species if this is a good year for them. > > > > Scott Jervas > Aquarium Manager > Berkshire Museum > 39 South St. > Pittsfield, MA 01201 > 413-443-7171 x 39 > 413-443-2135 fax > [email protected] > > Best, Jacob Drucker Manhattan/Ashley Falls, MA On Jan 7, 2011, at 10:10 AM, Tom Fiore wrote: > Western Massachusetts Rare Bird Alert for Jan. 3, 2011 is archived at: > http://www.virtualbirder.com/vbirder/realbirds/rbas/MAWE110103.html > > To my knowledge the only publicly-accesible information of this report > is from the Western Massachusetts RBA. If a Redwing was actually in > the area it could easily still be around or be with a widely-moving flock. > - - - > ------ > More from Manhattan, N.Y. City, a little later: Varied Thrush continues, > Red-headed Woodpecker continues - both still in Central Park there... > > Tom Fiore, > Manhattan > - - - - - - > -------------- > On Jan 7, 2011, at 9:04 AM, John Askildsen wrote: > > According to the Massachusetts e-list, there is a second-hand report from a > western Mass RBA of a European Redwing from December 30 at "Sebring Horse > Stables" in Richmond, MA. This location is just minutes from the Chatham, > Columbia County, NY line near the Rte. 22 corridor. > > The bird was apparently searched for by birders on December 31 with no > success. Published details were scant and in reading the e-buzz, Mass birders > seemed a bit puzzled over the report. > > JPA > > John Askildsen > Millbrook, New York > > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
