bird confusion

similar yet decidedly different!

Oh my goodness - I had never heard of a Varied Thrush until today.  So the birds that I've often considered to be a darker variant on Oregon's state bird, the Western Meadowlark, is not a dark lark at all!  Live and learn..  The patterns are similar but beaks and backs are distinctly different.  And one wears a V-neck, the other a crew :^)

It could take a while to edit my many mis-birded posts, but the VT is the bird tossing leaves in our yard in search of lunch - Not the meadowlark.  Good thing I left Oregon before learning this.. and neither will be confused with our new state bird, the Goldfinch!

* nope, it sounds nothing like the Swainson's spiraling call, just a single note.  And since I've been hearing that call a lot in the past few weeks, I now know who makes it!  I should have heard it long before now.  Better late than never, I suppose.