ID help, please

Some kind of thrush? I would guess about 6". Seen yesterday at the Savannah NWR.

it lacks rufous in the tail, and the spots are not very dark, so it does not look like a Hermit Thrush to me. I think it is Gray-cheeked (or possibly Swainson's Thrush), though I don't know the timing for when they start arriving in the US.

Blackish spots on breast, back more olive than grey. I'd say Swainson's Thrush.

I'm for Swainson's Thrush on this but it is a close call. There's also Bicknell's Thrush to consider.

I'm going to go out on a limb and disagree with the three posters above, all of whom I respect highly as birders. Hermit thrush is far and away the most likely candidate for winter in Georgia. Early arrival dates of Swainson's and Gray-cheeked in Florida are in late March and early April. I think this is a hermit thrush with subdued colors. I think I can see a hint of rufous in the primaries and tail feathers. Hermit thrushes are common wintering birds in the southeast.

Cornell's Birds of America Online mentions no winter records of Gray-cheeked in the southeast, and a fairly small number of reliable winter records in eastern N. America for Swainson's, and adds "Many late fall and winter reports questioned due to confusion with Hermit Thrush".

Peter's reply highlights the one reservation I had about this bird.... I was thinking that since this didn't look like a Hermit to me, that maybe some of these other thrushes migrated early and could be seen in Feb. I checked ebird, and among their records, there is only a single Feb record (ever) for Swainson's Thrush along the entire east coast, and only a single Feb record (ever) for Gray-cheeked. Of course there are thousands of records for Hermit.

Which means of course that Peter is almost surely correct about this bird. Got any more angles, Phil?