What Bird Is That Forum

Saw this thrush on a hike today near Minturn, CO. I know they're tough to narrow in. Unfortunately this one didn't make any noise so no sound to help. Thanks!

Swainson's

I sometimes have trouble with the eyering on a Swainson's.

Not on this bird, though!

lonesome55dove wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 5:48 pmSwainson's

Thank's that's what I figured. For some reason all the ID by photo sites (which I find to be very hit and miss) always want to say Hermit for the Swainson's I've seen. For the Empids they always default to "either Hammonds or Alder's". I think all I've seen are Western lol. Don't know what about their system defaults to that on these birds.

MtnAg08 wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 9:30 pm For some reason all the ID by photo sites (which I find to be very hit and miss) always want to say Hermit for the Swainson's I've seen. For the Empids they always default to "either Hammonds or Alder's". I think all I've seen are Western lol. Don't know what about their system defaults to that on these birds.

What sites, utilities, or apps are you trying?

Just crappy ones I find googling such as:

https://imageidentifier.ai/what-bird-species-is-this

https://www.piax.org/en/ai-image-analyz ... identifier

https://www.easyai.net/tools/bird-identifier (which hasn't worked in a couple weeks now)

If you use eBird, try posting the photo to your checklist even if you're not sure of the ID. Doing that triggers the Merlin ID function. If it agrees with your ID, it will accept the photo without comment. If it thinks the bird is something else, it will flag it. You can then remove the photo before saving the checklist.