When glimpsed in the deep shadows of its preferred densely forested habitat, this secretive thrush resembles a plump robin. But a clearer view will reveal the distinctive fieldmarks of a dark breast band, orange eyebrows, and orange wingbars. As striking as its plumage is its unmistakable song: a succession of single drawn-out, ventiloquial notes, given at different pitches that pierce the fog and dense foliage of its favored haunts in lush coastal and montane old-growth forests.

In Oregon, it breeds throughout the Coast Ranges and in the Cascades. It is a fairly common breeder in low-elevation hemlock and spruce forests along the coast, but elsewhere it only rarely nests in lowland conifer forests.

Hear the song of the Varied thrush

Photo by Eugene Beckes, Flickr