Bassian and Russet-tailed Thrushes are so similar in appearance that they are almost impossible to tell apart with certainty; that is until you hear them call because their songs are quite different. Much has been written about how to distinguish these two, shape, length of tail, how much white in the tail, fat or thin and so on, but in the dark shadows where they live most of the time , these features are very hard to assess. Fortunately, ground thrushes do stand still for quite long periods (several seconds!), one of the reasons they are so hard to detect against the litter on a forest floor.