Rare dark-throated thrush causes birdwatchers to jam sidewalk in Helsinki’s Etelä-Haaga

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The narrow sidewalk along Tunnelitie in Helsinki’s Etelä-Haaga district was teeming with birdwatchers with their binoculars and telescopes on Saturday.
      The object of their interest, a dark-throated thrush (Turdus ruficollis, subspecies atrogularis), sat peacefully on a branch of a nearby spruce digesting its lunch.
      The dark-throated thrush, a migratory Asian taiga species, usually keeps to its Siberian homestead, but has been seen even in Finland every once in a while.
      On this side of the border there have been about thirty sightings in all, perhaps three of which are from this year.
     
The bird was attracted to make a stop in urban Etelä-Haaga by a feeding tray on Mauri Rautkari’s window-ledge.
      Rautkari’s limited but nutritious serving of crushed nuts, fat granules, crumbled multi-seed bread, and crushed seedless raisins proved irresistible to the winged globe-trotter.
      “There it was behind the window last Wednesday, when I was having my morning tea”, Rautkari says.
      “Hey, we have some unknown variety here”, Rautkari called to his wife.
      The species was confirmed as dark-throated thrush - technically a black-throated variant of the species - within half an hour, after a photograph of the visitor had been emailed to a few friends.
      “It is a young female”, Rautkari specified on Saturday to some of the uninitiated onlookers on the sidewalk.
     
Dozens of bird enthusiasts have visited the place each day.
      Many twitchers - who are these days on the scene within minutes thanks to emails and SMS messaging - do not seem to mind waiting for several hours to catch a glimpse of the rare visitor.
      “On Friday someone stayed here for three hours”, one of the onlookers revealed.
      “Some cars stop, while drivers wonder if we’re gawping at a fire or something”, another ornithologist laughed.


Links:
  Dark-throated thrush (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat