Swainson's Thrush is a shy woodland thrush best known by two features: the buffy "spectacles" formed by a bold eye-ring and a buff wash across the face, and a rising, spiraling song that seems to climb upward into the canopy. Uniform olive-brown above with a buff-tinged, spotted breast, it lacks the reddish tail of the Hermit Thrush and the bold spots of the Wood Thrush, and it forages quietly on and near the forest floor, often more heard than seen.
It breeds in the coniferous and mixed forests of northern Michigan and passes through the rest of the state in good numbers during spring and fall migration. Swainson's Thrushes are famous night migrants, and on calm nights in May and September their soft, whistled "queep" flight calls drift down from birds passing overhead in the dark — a reminder of the vast, largely invisible movement of songbirds over the state each migration season.
Feeds on insects and other invertebrates gleaned from the forest floor and low foliage during breeding, then relies increasingly on berries and fruit in late summer and fall. Fruit is important fuel for its long nocturnal migration to wintering grounds in Central and South America.
Those soft, whistled flight calls in the night sky during May and September are often Swainson's Thrushes. Like many songbirds they migrate at night, and their calls reveal the unseen movement overhead.
Swainson's Thrush has a uniform brown tail (not reddish), bold buffy "spectacles," and a buff-washed face and breast. The Hermit Thrush shows a contrasting reddish tail and flicks its wings and tail.
In the coniferous and mixed forests of the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula. Elsewhere in the state it is a common spring and fall migrant rather than a breeder.
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