Fresh Pond: The Real World by James H. Barton
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On October 21, 1986 I was on my way to the Maynard Environmental Center at Fresh Pond, a mobile home better known as "the trailer," used by the Cambridge Public Schools as an environmental classroom and located very near Black's Nook on the grounds of Neville Manor, the city's home for aged and infirm.
I went by way of the Lusitania Soccer Field. At 8:50 a.m.
the head of a small bird with a striking, fierce facial
expression recalling that of painted warrior appeared suddenly a
few feet above the ground in a tree at the northwest corner of
the field, looking left, not far above the tops of the weeds
where sparrows were feeding.
Giving the bird its fierce
expression were bold, well defined white lines both above and
below the eye. The bird had the head shape, dark face and
pointed bill of an American Robin. But this was no Robin.
Its face pattern made no sense. Quickly, it vanished.
Only two birds I knew of would do. One was Louisiana Waterthrush, Seuirus motacilla. Rather unlikely in Cambridge, Massachusetts in October, I thought. But the bird didn't ask me what I thought before it came here, so I had to consider the possibility, however briefly.
Louisiana Waterthrush I'd seen many times at Crooked Pond in Boxford, where they nest, 45 minutes north of here. This had been no waterthrush, for the bold white line above the eye had been mirrored by an equally bold white line below the eye--a very angry stroke with a stiff brush, dramatically bordered in black.
I went looking for the other bird where I'd previously seen
it--in my 1983 edition of the Golden Guide
(A Guide to Field Identification - Birds of North
America by Robbins et al., published by the Golden Press).
There I quickly found it, reconfirming what I'd been thinking,
namely, that I would have to look at the bird's flanks if it reappeared.
So it did, briefly, facing into the foliage so that its right side was
clearly visible but its head was not. As I'd expected, below its
folded wing was a warm, diffuse rosy patch.