id help please...bird song from Sierra Nevada

[ronbco]

sorry to clutter cobirds with an id request of a CA siting...but I am stuck...and I've tried whatbird and xeno-canto.

See the name of one of our local experts with postings of audio recordings (you know who you are Ted...) I am going to reach out to this group.

place: sierra nevada mtns

location heard: 9k-11k ft...heard it many times on a 40 mile backpack trip

habitat: trees, perched on top of tall evergreens to sing

visual description: fairly non-descript brown/grey/white, warbler/townsends solitaire size, seemed a close match to warbling vireo in coloring, the tail seemed fairly short

general description of song: melodic, one song was 8 notes in about 4s (fairly slow), then repeated with a slight modulation, the ending notes of the song sounded like woodwind or chimes (very pleasing), the last 6 notes (faster than the firstt 2) were in a sequence of 2 notes close in pitch

so in short, one of the most pleasant songs, from an obviously common, average-sized, perching bird in the Sierra Mtns

tx

Ron Bolton

Berthoud

[ronbco]

Thanks to those who responded!

The verdict is a Hermit Thrush! 

Beautiful song!

I think I had not considered it before because I observed it singing from tall tree tops. Also I had not realized how much smaller and more slender than other thrushes.

Ron Bolton

Berthoud