Swainson's
Thrush, Catharus
ustulatus
This bird was singing on the nesting grounds, in Palmer, Alaska, and so is a male.
We found this little guy stunned outside the glass sliding door to our kitchen. Happy ending: he flew away a few seconds after I quickly snapped this picture. Swainson's summer and nest in the Bay Area, replacing the Hermit Thrush which winter here and depart to nest. The Swainson's beautiful song and water-drop call are heard more often than the birds are seen, at least in my experience. This one was presumably in migration to the wintering grounds in October; we don't usually have them in our neighborhood. The plumage is gray-olive, rather than the warm brown normally found in Pacific Coast Swainson's Thrushes, see below, so the bird may be one of the eastern subspecies, called "Russet" by Sibley.
I photographed this very worn Swainson's Thrush in a coffeeberry bush in Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz; as you might guess, that large item in his bill is a coffeeberry. His color in this photo, warmer than the bird I photographed on my deck, better represents the Pacific type of this species, called "Russet" by Sibley. The bird at the top is an example of the Swainson's type found in the rest of the country, called "Olive-backed" by Sibley.