Varied Thrush

The Varied Thrush is a boldly marked forest songbird of the Pacific coast and interior mountains of western North America, closely tied to dense, shaded, moist coniferous and mixed forest. Its striking orange-and-gray pattern and haunting, single-note whistled song make it one of the more distinctive and evocative birds of the region's old-growth woodlands.

• Upperpart feathers: Slate-gray to blackish across the back, crown, and tail.
• Underpart feathers: Bright burnt-orange from throat to belly, crossed by a bold dark breast band in males (narrower and grayer in females).
• Facial feathers: A prominent orange eyebrow stripe contrasts against the darker face.
• Wing feathers: Black with two bold orange wing bars, conspicuous both perched and in flight.
• Compared to similar species: The combination of an orange eyebrow, orange wing bars, and a dark breast band is unlike any other North American thrush, making this species relatively easy to identify when seen well.

Males show a bold, high-contrast pattern with a solid slate-gray to blackish back and head, a broad dark breast band, and bright orange underparts, eyebrow, and wing bars. Females and immatures are duller and grayer overall, with a browner back and a narrower, less distinct, more grayish-brown breast band. Juveniles show additional pale mottling on the underparts before their first molt. A single complete molt after breeding renews the plumage annually.

Varied Thrushes breed in dense, moist coniferous and mixed forest, especially old-growth and shaded ravines, from Alaska south through the Pacific Northwest and into parts of California and the northern Rockies. Many populations are migratory or make altitudinal movements, with some individuals wintering in lowland forest, parks, and gardens well outside the typical breeding range, occasionally as vagrants across North America.

This thrush forages on the forest floor, flipping leaf litter for invertebrates and taking fruit, especially in fall and winter. Its song is a distinctive series of long, eerie, single-pitch whistled notes separated by silence, often likened to a ringing or buzzing tone, and it is a signature sound of dim, wet coastal forest. Nests are built in dense conifer branches close to the trunk. Its shy nature and preference for deep forest shade mean it is often heard well before it is seen.