Ixoreus naevius MERULOIDES (GODFREII?)
Status: Rare regular winter visitor statewide.
Documentation: Specimen: UNSM ZM6661, 18 Dec 1935 North Platte, Lincoln Co.
Taxonomy: Four weakly differentiated subspecies are recognized, based mainly on female plumages (Phillips 1991). These are (Gill et al 2022): naevius of southeastern Alaska south coastally to northern California and wintering from British Columbia to central California, meruloides, of northern Alaska southeast in mountains to Montana, Idaho, and Oregon, wintering from British Columbia through Great Basin to Baja California, carlottae, of Queen Charlotte Island (Haida Gwaii) and wintering in coastal British Columbia and central California, and godfreii, breeding from interior British Columbia to eastern Washington and western Montana, winter range unknown.
The specimen cited above was identified as the subspecies meruloides (Tout 1935), however subspecies godfreii was not described until 1991 (Phillips 1991) and its breeding range seems likely to produce wintering birds in Nebraska.
Winter: Oct 16, 18, 19 <<<>>> Mar 26, 30, 31
Earlier dates are 10 Sep-2 Oct 2005 Wind Springs Ranch, Sioux Co (Brogie 2006), 20 Sep 1987 Sioux Co, 23 Sep 1980 Scotts Bluff Co, 24 Sep 2008 Otoe Co, and 1 Oct 1976 Sioux Co.
Later dates are 24 Mar-5 Apr 2016 Wilsonville, Furnas Co, 10 Apr 1949 Douglas Co, 15 Apr 2021 Lancaster Co, 21-28 Apr 2008 Omaha (Brogie 2009a), 1 May 1991 Douglas-Sarpy Cos, 6 May 1983 Douglas Co, 9 May 2001 Alliance, Box Butte Co, 17 May 2009 Kearney, Buffalo Co (Brogie 2009b), 20 May 1991 Lincoln Co, and 7 Jun 1985 McPherson Co (Mollhoff 1987).
Prior to 1972 there were only three records, including a flock of three that appeared Dec 1935 at North Platte, Lincoln Co, remaining until Jan 1936, when a dead individual was found (Tout 1935); one of these birds is the specimen cited above. There were only these further reports until 2001: 1 Oct 1976 Sioux Co, 23 Sep 1980 Scotts Bluff Co, 6 May 1983 Douglas Co, 7 Jun 1985 McPherson Co (Mollhoff 1987), 20 Sep 1987 Sioux Co, 1 May 1991 Douglas-Sarpy Cos, 20 May 1991 Lincoln Co, 10 Jan-Mar 1993 Omaha, Douglas Co, winter 1994-95 Omaha, and “prior to” 16 Oct-20 Oct 1999 Norfolk, Madison Co.
Since 2001, however, there have been 32 reports in the period 10 Sep-28 Apr, many well-documented (Brogie 2006, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020). As of spring 2022, Varied Thrushes have been reported in eight of the most recent 10 years.
A possible route for Varied Thrush to reach Nebraska is suggested by the finding that many US sightings occur along a 200-km-wide southeasterly corridor In Minnesota and Wisconsin corresponding with the southern extent of coniferous forest in both states (George 2020). George (2020) also noted that extralimital irruptive movements reaching the Midwest are erratic but are correlated with increased numbers of Varied Thrushes occurring south of the expected winter range in southern California.
Images
Abbreviations
UNSM: University of Nebraska State Museum
Literature Cited
Brogie, M.A. 2006. 2005 (17th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 74: 69-74.
Brogie, M.A. 2008. 2007 (19th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 76: 111-119.
Brogie, M.A. 2009a. 2008 (20th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 77: 80-90.
Brogie, M.A. 2009b. 2009 (21st) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 77: 160-168.
Brogie, M.A. 2011. 2010 (22nd) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 79: 99-111.
Brogie, M.A. 2013. 2012 (24th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR: 81: 120-130.
Brogie, M.A. 2014. 2013 (25th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 82: 131-146.
Brogie, M.A. 2017. 2016 (28th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 85: 128-142.
Brogie, M.A. 2019. 2018 (30th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 87: 96-109.
Brogie, M.A. 2020. 2019 (31st) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 88: 124-134.
George, T.L. 2020. Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.varthr.01.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Mollhoff, W.J. 1987. First report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 55: 79-85.
Phillips, A.R. 1991. The known birds of North and Middle America. Part 2. Published by the author, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Tout, W. 1935. The spread of the Wood Thrush to North Platte, Lincoln County. NBR 3: 28-29.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2023. Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 30 Nov 2023