First record of the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) for British Columbia (Revised April 2014)
By Rick Toochin
Read the full article with photos here.
Introduction and Distribution
The Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) is a species of thrush that is found breeding across Eurasia from the southern tip of Greenland, irregularly in Iceland through to Scandinavia, across northern Russia to Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia (Cramp 1988, Green 1998, Clement 2000). The Fieldfare winters from Iceland, Great Britain south irregularly to North Africa, but are found along the Mediterranean countries through Turkey to the Middle East as far east as Tajikistan (Cramp 1988, Clement 2000, Birdlife International 2013). The Fieldfare is a species that breeds in the eastern part of Russia, but migrates west towards Europe (Cramp 1988, Brazil 2009). As a result of this migration, it is considered an accidental vagrant to Northeast China and Japan (Brazil 2009). The Fieldfare is a rare but increasingly annual vagrant to eastern North America with multiple records coming from Atlantic Canada (Cramp 1988, Godfrey 1986, Green 1998, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). There are other records from the American east coast states such as Massachusetts, New York and Delaware (Green 1998, Sibley 2000). There are also records for Quebec, Ontario and Baffin Island (Godfrey 1986, Green 1998, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). It is an incredibly rare vagrant in western North America with Alaska having about four records, and there are no other records along the West Coast outside of British Columbia (Roberson 1980, Green 1998, OFO 2012, Wahl et al. 2005, West 2008, WBRC 2012). This is the only record of a Fieldfare for British Columbia and constitutes a new accidental species for the Province (Toochin et al. 2013). Given that the species does breed in Siberia and is a long distance migrant, it is highly likely another Fieldfare could turn up in British Columbia again in the future.
Version April 2014
