Family: Turdidae, Thrushes view all from this family

Description 6 1/2 -7 3/4" (17-20 cm). Uniformly dull olive-brown or olive-russet above, spotted below, with buff eye ring and cheek. The Gray-cheeked Thrush is similar, but has grayish cheeks and lacks conspicuous eye ring.

Habitat Coniferous forests and willow thickets.

Nesting 3 or 4 pale green-blue eggs, finely spotted with light brown, in a well-built cup of moss and lichen lined and strengthened with twigs, leaves, and grass. The nest is generally concealed in a small forest shrub or tree.

Range Breeds from Alaska east across Canada to Newfoundland, south to British Columbia, Michigan, and northern New England, and in mountains to southern California, Colorado, and West Virginia. Winters in tropics.

Voice   Song a series of reedy spiraling notes inflected upward.

Discussion This bird is named after the English naturalist William Swainson (1789-1855). Like the Hermit Thrush, it is a furtive, ground-dwelling bird of the northern forests. Its song, while perhaps not as beautiful as that of the Hermit Thrush, is better known to most bird-watchers because the species sings more frequently during migration. Because each bird's territory is small and the species is abundant, one may hear a chorus of male Swainson's Thrushes sing briefly every morning and evening. This species sings, feeds, and breeds in shady thickets; migrants fly at night, feeding and resting during the day.