Townsend's Solitaire Myadestes townsendi is the only species of Solitaire occuring regularly in the U.S. It is a bird I see most often in migration in the spring, or occasionally on a mountain hike at Mt. Rainier in summer. Like the Solitare species I've seen in Central America, our Townsend's also has a beautiful song, but it is one less often heard. Some of the tropical Solitaire species seem to sing incessantly, and are a memorable sound in their range. Ours also has a loud and beautiful song, and on the breeding grounds it is often heard, but not to the same degree of regularity as I've noted in the tropics.
Today I did get to hear these birds singing. I believe this interaction is a territorial squabble, though it could be part of a mated pairs bonding process.
This is a more typical view of this species, though in this case the bird is singing.
I can still remember the first time I saw a Townsend's Solitaire. I was a beginning birder, making my trip after leaving the Army to move to Washington to work, and my wife and I were walking down a staircase on the side of the Yellowstone Canyon in Yellowstone National Park when a bird flew in and perched on the railing of the staircase, just over an arm's reach from me. I was stunned, but knew immediately it's ID, as it is a unique bird I had been hoping to find.
For this and other reasons this is a special bird for me, and to hear them sing today made for a great day.
Good birding.
