Click photo to see complete painting

Swainson's Thrush

Status Common in summer, very rare in winter. Breeds. First arrivals are generally in early May, occasionally in late April (average 8 May, earliest 18 April). Large numbers appear in late May, and it is widely distributed during summer in coniferous and mixed woodlands. Migration is evident from late August, and large movements have been recorded through September. Late sightings are routine through November (average 10 November; the latest was a bird closely studied by C.W. Helleiner in Halifax on 13 December 1980). Although winter reports of this species north of the southern United States are often considered suspect because of possible confusion with the Hermit Thrush, we have two well-documented ones by qualified observers: the first came to a feeder on Sable Island on 14-16 January 1969 (C. and N. Bell), and the second appeared in Barrington, Shelburne County, on 31 January 1980 (B.J. Smith).

Description Length: 16.5-19 cm. Adults: Upperparts uniform olive-brown; throat and breast buff, marked with fine brownish gray spots; belly white; sides washed with light grayish brown; buff eye ring.

Breeding Nest: Bulky, composed of dry grass, fern stalks, dry leaves, mosses and lichens, with a lining of fine rootlets and sometimes hair; in low trees, conifers preferred, usually not over 5 m up; in open woodland pastures or along the margins of old wood-roads. Although it is said to nest on the ground at times, all of the many nests I have examined were in trees or bushes at low heights; all were in conifers but one, which was in a low deciduous bush in damp woods of mixed growth. Eggs: 3-4; greenish blue, spotted, sometimes blotched, with cinnamon-brown. Laying begins about the last week in May. Some nest dates: 7 June 1927 at Albany, Annapolis County, with three fresh eggs; 5 June 1922 in the same locality, 1 m up in a slender fir in swampy woods of mixed growth, with four slightly incubated eggs; 5 June 1923 at Black River, Kings County, in a small spruce about 1 m up in damp mossy woods, with four slightly incubated eggs.

Range Breeds from Alaska, the southeastern Mackenzie Valley, northern Manitoba, central Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to the northeastern United States, northern Michigan and California. Winters in South America.

Remarks This retiring bird of open woodlands prefers the lower forest strata and, because of its shy nature, is rather difficult to observe. Though a good songster, its notes like those of the Hermit Thrush, its song lacks that bird's clear, pure tones and might be described as being "throaty" and hurried. Its scolding note is an abrupt prit, soft and pleasing to the ear; another note commonly given is a high-pitched peep. When one hears it singing, it is useless to approach to observe it more closely, for while one is still at some distance, the song will cease as the bird silently drops to conceal itself in thick underbrush. (For distinguishing differences in the plumages of our most common thrushes, see Remarks under the Hermit Thrush.)