kkoel

Congratulations Andiona, very nice shots of a beautiful bird!

However with such a contrasting head pattern: black lores, well delineated eyebrow and white patch below the eye, along with some grey colour over the cheeks, I think this bird may fit a first winter Eyebrowed Thrush better. As female-type Brown-headed Thrush do look very similar, I'm happy to stand corrected!

Attached is a supposed immature male Eyebrowed Thrush for discussion.
http://www.pbase.com/ingotkfr/image/111388055

kkoel

One more photo to show how brown-headed some immature male Eyebroweds can look. The white patch below the eye and dark lores seems to be absent in female-type Brown-headed Thrushes, whilst the white brow and black moustache could be common to both.

http://www.pbase.com/peterericsson/image/48268366

kkoel

I agree this may well be indeterminate - the extent and saturation of red underneath is good for Brown-headed but the head pattern I would say is a bit too strong for any Brown-headed I've seen online or in the field. Maybe birdwatchers more experienced with these two species could enlighten us? ^^

kkoel

There seems to be a lot of overlap between the extent and saturation of orange in the underparts shown by these two Thrushes such that I hesitate to conclude from the underpart color. With the head pattern, I was a attracted to the contrast between the blak lores and large white patch immediately below the eye, which is quite an Eyebrowed pattern. But it's true as Geoff says that many female type Brown-headed can approximate this pattern... Perhaps only with subtly less cotrast.

So just to raise one more point for discussion: are the calls of the two species distinguishable? This Shek Kong individual called with soft high 'tzee' notes.