Family: Turdidae, Thrushes view all from this family
Description 6 1/2 -8" (17-20 cm). Dull olive-brown, with pale, spotted underparts and no rust color in plumage; sides of face tinged with gray; no eye ring. Swainson's Thrush similar, but has buff eye ring and buff, not gray, cheeks. Other spotted thrushes show rust color on upperparts or tail.
Habitat Nests in coniferous forests, especially in dense stands of stunted spruce and balsam; widespread on migration.
Nesting 3-5 pale blue-green eggs, finely speckled with brown, in a solidly built cup of grass reinforced with mud and placed in a low conifer.
Range Breeds from northern Alaska across northern Canada to Newfoundland, south to northern British Columbia, northern Ontario, and central Quebec. Throughout much of eastern North America on migration.
Voice Series of thin reedy notes inflected downward at the end.
Discussion A reticent bird, the Gray-cheeked Thrush keeps mostly under cover, searching for food on the ground. This thrush is one of the few American birds that have spread to northeastern Siberia in the scrub tundra but migrate back through North America to the American tropics.
