Month: May 2006
Juvenile Song Thrush, Cong, Co. Mayo
Coming back from Connemara last weekend, we stopped off in Cong, Co. Mayo. Late in the afternoon, we were walking out of the grounds of Ashford Castle, towards Cong. On the avenue between the Church of Ireland church and the Roman Catholic Church, was a tubby bird about the length of a blackbird pecking away on the ground. We got closer, for a look. It wasn't so much tame as completely unconcerned by us. It looked at us, cocked its head, and then going back to digging for worms. It made no attempt to fly, and we stayed with 1-2m of it for about 15 minutes before it wandered off into the undergrowth. It had a pale breast, speckled with brown, a short, slightly hooked beak, and a brown head and back. Some of its wing feathers seemed to be tipped with gold, or yellow. Its head seemed to be...