Brown-backed Solitaire

The brown-backed solitaire (Myadestes occidentalis) is considered a thrush and is placed in the family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized bird about 21 centimeters (8 inches) long. It is a mostly grayish bird with brown flight feathers (hence the "brown back" when it is perched), a white eye ring and white rectrices (tail) feathers. In the American Birding Association Area, it is Code 5. One singing bird was found in Miller Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains of Southeastern Arizona, and documented by the youth birding Victor Emanuel Nature Tours' Camp Chiricahua in July 2009. This bird was the first accepted record of this species in the ABA area, notable since several other previous records had been rejected due to question of origin.