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First of all, this board is great.  It looks there are some amazing bird experts here.  I have learned a lot just reading through some of these posts.  I live in Northeastern Missouri.  I saw this bird today but it was quite high up and shooting up into the green of the tree gives some color casts and poor light quality to the photo.  I am pretty sure there was some light yellow on the underside and pretty plain olivish/tan color top.  In pouring through the old bird books I have, it looks like it may be a warbler based on the beak and eye markings, but if so, I am unsure which one.  If anyone can help me with an ID, it would be appreciated.  I am seeing a lot of birds here this year that I have not seen before in 6 years of living here.  It has been an awesome birding spring.

 

Well, I think I got lucky when I went back and was able to get a better photo, likely the same type of bird anyhow.  I still am not sure which type of thrush it is.  I have 2 older bird books whose illustrations for these are different from each other, and this bird doesn't look enough like any of the illustrations enough for me to be sure which it is.  Expert opinions appreciated. 

Looks like a Hermit Thrush. Could also possibly be a Gray-cheeked Thrush, but it's hard to tell from this picture as the face is in shadow and you can't see the hind half of the bird. If there was rufous coloring on the tail, then it's definitely a Hermit Thrush. Neither species nests in Missouri, but they both migrate through at this time of year.

Could be a Hermit Thrush, but with the amount of white showing around the eye, I'm thinking Wood Thrush.

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
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Wow snowyowl! Post # 1000! You are much appreciated in case you don't already know.

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Vicki Conklin

Wood Thrush is a much redder brown, spots are larger, darker black, and extend all the way down the belly, and the white eye ring is much more pronounced. Here's a Wood Thrush for comparison:

 

 

Ahhh, I believe you are right again, snowyowl. I'm convinced that it is a Hermit Thrush.

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

Wow, thanks all.  I was way off base here.  You all are amazing to be able to ID this from a poor photo.  I appreciate it.

Tomboymama, you didn't mention that the bird was raising and lowering its tail. That' a noticeable feature of Hermit Thrushes. Snowy Owl may have had it right when he listed the Gray-Cheeked Thrush.

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Spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugit invidia aetas. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. - Horace

My first impression was Swainson's Thrush.

TheGrine:

My first impression was Swainson's Thrush.

That was my first impression as well but it's hard to tell for certain from this angle.

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Given the fact that the eye rings is percepitible even in a poorly lit photo (no knock on you, Tomboymama, you didn't choose the conditions!) I'd go with Swainson's as my first call, though of course I'd like a few other angles....

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"I put it down. you gotta pick it up." —Thelonious Monk

To positively ID a Swainson's Thrush, you really have to see that buffy color in the face and a distinctly buffy eye-ring.  Those are the features that distinguish Swainson's from other thrushes. I just don't see that here, do you?  Here's a Swainson's Thrush

:

 

Unfortunately I really did not see much of the bird as it only caught my attention when it flew from the ground up high into the tree. I got an impression of yellowish underneath but really did not see it well enough to be sure of anything.  I hope to go back to that area today and see if I see it again. 

I do have a little pamphlet for Missouri birds from the conservation department which lists the species that can be seen here when and to what degree, i.e. rare, common, etc.  It lists all of the thrushes mentioned in this thread but for the time of year, it appears that the most common thrushes here are the wood thrush and Swainson's and to a lesser degree the gray-cheeked.  It shows the Hermit thrush very rarely as a winter bird with it being uncommonly seen for migration end of March into mid April.  I am not sure how accurate it is, but it seems to make a hermit thrush less likely. 

Hopefully I will be able to see it again and get a better photo and positively ID it, but I have never seen a thrush before, so which ever it is is still a treat for me.  Thanks again for your help. 

Can I ask how you determined what type of bird it was first off... thrush versus warbler?  Other than commonly seen birds, I am new to trying to identify some of the warblers and vireos, etc. that I am seeing for the first time this year.

This bird just doesn't strike me as a Hermit Thrush, I don't see any rufous tinges whatsoever, though the color quality of the photo isn't the greatest. I am more inclined to say that it's Gray-cheeked/Swainson's, looks more like Swainson's to me.

I do have to agree that I would want to see more buffy coloring in the facial area, but once again the color quality of the photo isn't the greatest. Swainson's don't have to have the extent of buff like in the photo snowyowl posted, that seems a bit on the extreme side to me, for instance look at this photo of a not so buffy Swainson's: http://vancouverislandbirds.com/gdswainsons2js.jpg .

I'm no expert on thrushes, but that's just my thoughts on this bird.

 

 

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featherbrain

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Just throwing in another vote for Swainson's Thrush.  The breast spots seem very blurry (but then again, the photo is blurry), which especially makes me think Swainson's.  It may not be identifiable from this photo, though. 
 

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