Gray-Cheeked Thrush

Catharus minimus

Gray-Cheeked Thrushes breed across most of Alaska and the northern tier of Canada. They spend winters in northern South America. 

Modern day taxonomists recognize two subspecies of Gray-Cheeked Thrush; Catharus minimus minimus and Catharus minimus aliciae

• C. m. minimus (Lafresnaye, 1848) is sometimes called the “Newfoundland” Gray-Cheeked Thrush. These birds breed throughout the Newfoundland archipelago, as well as locations in Nova Scotia. Some researchers believe they may also be on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Labrador and eastern Quebec. They overwinter in Colombia and perhaps east into Venezuela and south through Ecuador to northern Peru.
• C. m. aliciae (Baird, 1858) is often referred to as the “Northern” Gray-Cheeked Thrush. They breed from northeastern Siberia and Alaska east through the boreal zone to central Labrador, and overwinter in northern South America, from Venezuela to French Guiana and south to northern Brazil.

Alaskan birds often favor closed canopy habitats of medium-height shrubs combined with a dense undergrowth in a layer of small shrubs. Biologists describe other Alaskan habitats as riparian alder and willow thickets. Coastal Newfoundland birds prefer windswept conifer thickets, conifer scrub, clear-cuts dominated with young balsam fir, and montane old growth balsam fir forests. In mountain landscapes of western Newfoundland, they seemed to prefer tall conifer scrub.

The diet of these birds consists of 75% animal matter (insects and other arthropods) and  25% vegetable matter (fruits).

I find Catharus thrushes a challenge to identify. Swainson’s and Gray-Cheeked Thrushes are especially difficult to differentiate. Not only do they each love dark and shady habitats, without adequate light, their subtle color differences are difficult to distinguish. South Padre Island provided me with opportunities to encounter three of these species (Hermit Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, and Gray-Cheeked Thrush).