The ABA Code-5 Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris) had only been documented two times in the ABA Area until 10 July when one was found, and then photographed and tape recorded, in the South Dakota Black Hills on the 16th near the confluence of Iron Creek and Spearfish Creek. Check www.wildphotosphotography.com/WildPhotos/thrush/thrush.html to view a photograph of the bird.
The first record for the ABA Area occurred at Laguna Atascosa NWR, TX, on 8 April 1996 where it was photographed (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.) The second record is represented by a specimen record taken at Edinburg, in Hidalgo County, TX, from 28 May 2004 (NAB 59:462).
Field guides show Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush coming closest to the ABA Area in southern Chihuahua and southern Tamaulipas, Mexico. However, the species is found north of Tamaulipas on the Gulf Slope, just south of Monterrey in Nuevo León, nearly as far north as Brownsville (Michael Retter, pers. comm.) Its range extends south through tropical habitats to northern South America where it prefers second growth thickets, and forest understory. It forages mostly on the ground. If flushed, it often cocks and slowly lowers its tail when alighting (A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica, Stiles and Skutch).
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