Gray-cheeked Thrush

Catharus minimusOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Thrushes (Turdidae)

Codes: Common Name: GCTH Scientific Name: CATMIN ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179793

Gray-cheeked Thrush (minimus) Breeding Male

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Overview

Gray-cheeked Thrush: Small thrush (minimus), with olive-brown upperparts, buff-brown breast with brown spots, and white or buff belly. Gray eye-ring is indistinct. Upper mandible is black with pale base, while lower mandible is yellow with black tip. Tail and rump have rust-brown wash.

Range and Habitat

Gray-cheeked Thrush: Breeds from northern Alaska across northern Canada to Newfoundland, south to northern British Columbia, northern Ontario, and central Quebec. Spends winters in Central and South America. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests (primarily spruce), tall shrubby areas in taiga, deciduous forests, and open woodlands.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Similar Sounding

Voice Text

"wheeoo-titi-wheeoo", "phreu"

Interesting Facts

Gray-cheeked and Bicknell's thrushes were only recently recognized as separate species. Most of the information published in the last century on "Gray-cheeked Thrush" concerned the Bicknell's Thrush instead of the Gray-cheeked.

It is all but indistinguishable from Bicknell's Thrush except by its slightly larger size and different song.

A reticent bird, it keeps mostly under cover, searching for food on the ground.

A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Related Birds

Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Bicknell's Thrush

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Gray-cheeked Thrush

● Song: "wheeoo-titi-wheeoo", "phreu"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gray-cheeked Thrush: Eats mostly insects such as beetles, ants, wasps, and caterpillars; also feeds on spiders, crayfish, sow bugs, earthworms, grapes, wild cherries, blackberries, and raspberries. Usually forages on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Gray-cheeked Thrush: Three to six green blue to pale blue eggs, with brown specks, are laid in a nest made of grass, sedges, bark, weed stems, twigs, and moss, lined with grass, leaves, and fine rootlets, and built on low branch of a tree or shrub, up to 10 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 13 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Gray-cheeked Thrush: Swainson's Thrush has buff face and eye-ring. Bicknell's Thrush is smaller, has warmer brown tones on upperparts, and more yellow on lower mandible. Veery has duller spots on underparts and is usually more red-brown. Hermit Thrush has distinct rufous on tail and wings and an eye-ring.

Flight Pattern

Relatively swift direct flight with somewhat jerky wing strokes.

Gray-cheeked Thrush (minimus) Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Gray-cheeked Thrush: Breeds from northern Alaska across northern Canada to Newfoundland, south to northern British Columbia, northern Ontario, and central Quebec. Spends winters in Central and South America. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests (primarily spruce), tall shrubby areas in taiga, deciduous forests, and open woodlands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1.2 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Lower mandible

The lower part of the bill.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

Upper mandible

The upper part of the bill.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America