Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Catharus aurantiirostris
The orange-billed nightingale-thrush is 15.5 to 17 cm (6.1 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 21 to 32 g (0.74 to 1.1 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. a. aurantiirostris are olive-brown with a rufous tinge on their crown, nape, back, rump, wings, and tail. The rufous is strongest on the last three areas. Their face is grayish brown with a thin orange eye-ring. Their throat is whitish that darkens to pale gray on the rest of the underparts. They have a long, strong, orange bill and brownish orange legs and feet. Voice: The orange-billed nightingale thrush usually sings from dense cover. Its song varies among the subspecies. In northern Central America it is "a scratchy warbling series of sharp whistles and buzzes:chit-TSEE!-tah'wert-PEE'tseee-Cheet or TSIP!-Tseee-cheet-tsee'weet". There its calls are "a sharp, high-pitched whistle, tsseeeeeee" and, as a contact call, "a catlike rreeahhhh".
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
Catharus fuscater
The slaty-backed nightingale-thrush is 17 to 18 cm (6.7 to 7.1 in) long. Specimens from Ecuador and Colombia weighed 30.5 to 38 g (1.1 to 1.3 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. f. fuscater have a dark slate gray head with a bright orange to yellowish orange eye-ring and a white to gray throat. Their upperparts are dark slate gray. Their underparts are mostly dark slate gray; the center of the breast and belly have varying amounts of white mixed in and sometimes a yellowish tint to the white. Voice: A lyric description of the slaty-backed nightingale-thrush's song is "a dreamy, mesmerizing series of low, flute like phrases...eer-lee or ur-eee-lee, phrases halting and hypnotic, as if disembodied from bird and floating eerily through the forest". Another description is "melodious and leisurely...a series of simple phrases, e.g, toh-toh-tee...tee-toh or tlee-to-tleedelee...to wee-tlee?".
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where you might meet both
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush and Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush.