Bird sighting

[telophase]

Getting the description down before I go look it up.

Ground bird--was sititng on a rock in our back yard, then ran off rather than fly off. Fairly large-robin or bluejay size, can't tell exactly. Mottled/spotted breast of dark spots on white, with the white picking up a reddish tinge as it goes down the abdomen. Beak like a jay, so it's an insect eater rather than a seed eater. Head smooth, no crest that I could see. Back and wings (when closed) dark brown. Tail points down like a jay, rather than up like a roadrunner.

Now off to look for the bird online and in my dad's old field guide.

ETA: No hard ID, but I'm inclined to a thrasher or a thrush.

Comments

[movingfinger]

Thrush would be my guess, as they spend a lot of time foraging on the ground and do tend to run off rather than fly.

[telophase]

Looking at photos, it looks a bit more like a brown thrasher than anything else, although that's not saying much. It's hard to tell because it was in shade by the time I got the binoculars, so its back and belly was much darker than they would be in light.

[matildarose.livejournal.com]

Did it look like this: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/wood-thrush/

[matildarose.livejournal.com]

On second thought, it's more likely to be this: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/brown-thrasher?source=A-to-Z

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I"m leaning towards the thrasher.

[chomiji]

Not a flicker, huh?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Nope--I'm fairly sure I'd have seen that red patch, and the breast pots weren't as distinct. The thrasher that matildarose linked to is the closest of anything I've seen--I'm putting down my errors in color ID to the fact that it was in deep shade by the time I got the binoculars out.