One issue I’ve always had while birding is that I have trouble distinguishing among certain species, such as thrushes. Despite this hiccup, I recently got lucky and spotted my first Gray-cheeked Thrush without an issue.

This little guy was not bothered by me at all. It was foraging on the ground near the entrance to the boardwalk at Lorance Creek Natural Area in Little Rock, and later flew to a nearby limb where I had an excellent view of it through my camera.

I identified it through its call and eBird reviewers have since confirmed my photo. Gray-cheeked Thrushes are medium-sized, without a prominent eyeing and has a grayish face with no buffy coloring. Its belly is whitish. The eyering and coloring – gray vs Buffy – are two ways to distinguish the Gray-cheeked from other thrushes.

The spotting had perfect timing. I’d just spoken to someone the day before about the ideal time to see the species. In North America, Gray-cheeked Thrushes are currently migrating through Arkansas from their wintering grounds east of the Andes from Venezuela and Colombia to their breeding grounds in western Alaska.