Photo taken on 13 Dec 2003 by Giff Beaton.  Pierre Howard located this bird on 13 Dec 2003, and according to a St. Catherines Island staff member, the bird has been present at the same location on the island for about three weeks.  Giff Beaton provided the following informative email to Georgia Birders Online concerning the status of Swainson's Thushes in winter in the southeastern US:

Many of you have now heard about the Swainson's Thrush seen on St. Catherines Island this weekend, and several have asked why it is considered so rare. Explanation below, but thanks to Pierre Howard for finding it (yet another mega rarity found by him) and to the SCI staff member who mentioned today that she has been seeing the same bird for about 3 weeks but did not realize how unusual it was. Apparently the bird is trying to winter there, so it will be interesting to see if it stays and/or survives...

Swainson's Thrush is a common spring and fall migrant in GA, with a few records into early Nov. We have two good sight reports from Augusta 27 Nov 2001 and from Dublin 3 Dec 1989, which are considered late migrants, kind of in the "late lingering" category as opposed to just a very late calendar migration. Though there are several other reports from winter in GA (listed in the new Annotated Checklist), none have credible details.

To understand why winter Swainson's in North America are viewed so suspiciously, consider the wintering range of this species. While some of the western subspecies winter as close as southern Mexico and Central America (still a long way away), the eastern subspecies that migrate through here generally all winter in South America. A good general rule for which species may linger or winter in the US is that those species which normally winter just south of here, like in the Caribbean or northern Mexico, are often found in the southern parts of the US in winter and as very late migrants. Recent examples from GA include the Ovenbird, Black-throated Blues, Indigo Bunting, etc. Most species that winter in the lower part of Central America or in South America are virtually unknown in the US in winter, which makes sense if you figure how far they normally go and that stopping up here would be very unusual. A Black-throated Blue that is only going to Puerto Rico for the winter isn't that far off if it stops in FL, but a Cerulean that winters in South America is way short. So, a Swainson's Thrush in North America in winter is way short also! Another general rule for wayward migrants in winter explains some exceptions to this rule, and that is western species that go east instead of south. Examples include western hummers, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, etc. Speaking of grosbeaks, we are still learning about Rose-breasted! There are quite a few winter records in the southern US for winter, and obviously we have something going on in GA as well even though they winter fairly far south in Mexico and Central America.

Back to Swainson's Thrush in winter. There are very few credible records for the US in winter, despite quite a few CBC reports that are almost never supported by even the barest minimum details. In fact, I am aware of only about four previous accepted winter Swainson's from the US after 1 Dec, although there may be recent records I have missed or a couple of records from states without annotated checklists:

-24 Jan 1973, found dead near Orlando FL. Stevenson and Anderson, authors of "Birdlife of Florida" (the authority for FL bird records) go so far as to say "All observations between 1 Dec and 31 Mar are questionable." This obviously does not include the specimen.

-J Van Remsen, the highly-respected ornithologist at LSU and authority on extra-limital bird records, states that LA has "a couple" of credible winter records, including one specimen (pers comm). He was not aware of any other southeastern winter records when I talked to him about this last winter.

-the latest accepted record from SC is 20 Nov 1990, listed in "Supplement to Status and Distribution of SC Birds" by Post (1993).

-I don't know about western records, but the BNA Swainson's Thrush account (#540) lists one from Vancouver, BC, 18-23 Dec 1970.

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