I was going through my Curved-billed Thrasher images this morning, thinking about doing a post. As I was perusing the thumb-nails, five of them caught my eye. I realized that those images were different from all the others. Upon further review, and consulting my bird guides, I discovered it was a Sage Thrasher, (Oreoscoptes montanus).
The Sage Thrasher is quite a bit smaller than the curved-billed, and has a much shorter bill. I should have taken a closer look at them at the time, but as I always do, I download into my folders then nearly forget about them, until I accidentally come across them again, as I did this time, looking for better images of the Curved-billed. As it turns out, it is a lifer for me, as I had never seen and identified one before. We, in this area, are right on the eastern edge of their wintering zone.
Sage Thrasher
This image was captured in January of 2009, at San Angelo State Park. My camera at that time was the Canon EOS 40D. Canon 100-400 zoom lens, 1/800 sec. @ f5.6, ISO 400. Center-weighted metering at aperture priority.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 
Bob, yep, that is a Sage Thrasher, a bird I am very familiar with. Super find! On a side note, I find accidental lifers in my files too, I did it eearlier this week by finding a sparrow in my files that I thought was a juvenile White-crowned, turned out to be an American Tree Sparrow!
For me the sparrow species is the one that give me fits when trying to make identification. In fact another blogger, Tracy, has an interesting article today on Tree Sparrows. Here is the link: http://seasonsflow.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/two-distinctive-sparrows/
Quite a co-incidence that you wrote me on the subject.
Thanks, Mia
Hard to beat finding a new bird you’ve photographed but didn’t know it at the time 🙂 I’ve done it before, but never in such a sharp photo!
Thank you. I originally had mis-idenified it as another bird. I need to learn to take a closer look. Have a great weekend, Tracy. 🙂
Darn it, Bob. You’re speeding away on the life list again 😉 Nice catch and congrats on the lifer.
Thanks, Jim. That was #238. 🙂
How fun was that to find an accidental lifer? Very cool!
Yeah, that was great. Hidden in plain sight. 🙂
So much curiosity in this bird’s eyes. Great photo Bob. I love your bird photos. My mom loves birds so she always knows what you have posted. 🙂
Thank you very much, Nandini
This bird certainly looks more friendly than the Curved Bill. 🙂 Great post, Bob!
Yeah, the Curved-billed is pretty menacing looking. Thanks, Katie.
I’ve never seen this type of thrasher…. wonder if they’re up this way?
Happy Friday Bob!
Thank you, Melissa. The Sage Thrashers are only seen in the Western part of the U.S.
Happy Friday to you, too. 🙂
Thrashers are very interesting birds..great composition on this photo..lights and darks are fabulous and shadows really add depth …
Thanks very much, Syl.
I love the light and shadow detail in this photo. ~ Lynda
Thanks, Lynda. This one fooled me, I thought at first that it was a Curved-billed Thrasher. 🙂
Isn’t it great when we come across images we have sort of forgotten about??? It’s always a nice surprise…as is this one!
That’s what makes birding and wildlife photography exciting. Thanks for the comment, David