The  Spotted Thrush (or Spotted Ground Thrush) is approximately 23cm long and weighs around 68g.  The sexes are alike with the male slightly larger than the female.

The Adult’s forehead, crown and scapulars are a rusty olive-brown with tail-feathers olive-brown and the outermost pairs has a white patch, mainly on the inner web extending approximately 2.5cm in from the tip.

It has an eye-ring, malar streak, pre-orbital region and a patch on the ear-coverts are white. It also has a black moustachial streak and a black line through the eye and behind the eye patch. Their under parts are white, often tinged buff on the breast and flanks, with large bold black drop shaped or fan shaped spots, varying in density of spotting. There are 2 rows of white and similar shaped spots on the wings. The lesser coverts are olive-brown with buff spots on the tips. The bill is black with the base of the lower mandible a whitish, pale yellow or pinkish. The eyes are dark brown appearing black.  Their legs and feet are pale pink.

Juvenile’s crown and mantle is mottled and streaked buff or dull olive-brown. Their underparts are buff with black flecks and spots.

Immature birds have spots on the buff underparts. The crown and back becomes less mottled, developing into uniform olive-brown with age.

The Spotted Ground Thrush may often be confused with the Groundscraper Thrush but this species lacks the white wing-bars and the upper-parts of the latter species is grey and unlikely to be confused with the deep rusty olive-brown back of the forest dwelling ground thrush.

During their extended breeding season the main call is a loud flute-like ‘teu do teudo’ with additional musical notes ‘chew de de che’ and other tuneful variations. During the non-breeding season they are sometimes capable of sustained song and mimicry, continuous for up to 5 minutes. They are excellent at mimicry and most forest species are mimicked, including Red-chested Cuckoo, Sombre, Greenbul, Black-bellied Starling, Black-backed Shrike, Olive Bush Shrike and Cape White-eye. Song is normally given from forest mid-stratum or sometimes from branches low down in under-canopy. A contact call is uttered from ground level, a soft single note, ‘skree’. Alarm or distress calls, loud ‘krissik’ and gutteral rattle ‘g r r r, ka ka ka’.

Spotted Ground Thrush are mostly found in coastal forests North of East London through to KwaZulu-Natal as far as Cape Vidal and Lake St Lucia. Also inland in KwaZulu-Natal coastal scarp forests North of the Tugela River near Eshowe. The forest habitats south of they Kei River is generally unsuitable. The most southern forests with reasonable populations include Egosa, Mboyti and Ntsubane forests.  

An average of 20-25 breeding pairs have been recorded in Dlinza forest (Eshowe) with population numbers decreasing dramatically during and after drought seasons.

2 separate migration patterns exist. The Eastern Cape (incl. Transkei) breeding population migrates northwards to the KwaZulu-Natal coastal forests from March to May and return in August/September.  The north KwaZulu-Natal population, centred around Eshowe (Dlinza, Ongoye and Ntumeni forests) are altitudinal migrants moving eastwards to coastal forests during March to May returning in August/September, when earthworm populations increase and become more available. Not all birds engage in seasonal movements however.

Birds are restricted entirely to coastal dune forest, coastal scarp and lowland forest and adjacent thickets with a high and complete canopy cover creating a partly open under-story that is favoured by these thrushes. Except on migration they never venture out of their forest habitat.

In breeding localities Thrushes are normally found in pairs although they sometimes forages separately. During the non-breeding season they normally forage singly, but sometimes in pairs or in mixed feeding groups. When approached, they often give a soft contact call, a helpful aid in finding this extremely well camouflaged species. It avoids detection in leaf-litter from predators such as African Goshawk by freezing till danger has passed. Its preferred niche within the forest under-canopy is in partly open areas, interspersed with saplings where its movements go relatively undetected, and where it can out-manoeuvre aerial attacks by avian predators. It avoids dense thickets and open spaces. They are noisy when scratching amongst leaves especially when the leaf litter is dry. Although normally shy and elusive, they may become relatively tame along forest paths and walks.

 They normally forage singly or in pairs in thick moist leaf litter on the forest floor, flicking over leaves and feeding predominantly on earthworms, but also take invertebrates and snails. It sometimes joins mixed species groups during the non-breeding season, feeding with species such as Terrestrial Brownbul and Green-backed Camaroptera on the forest floor. Chicks fed almost entirely on earthworms and to a lesser extent, invertebrates.

 Spotted Ground Thrush are generally monogamous (in 2 records of ringed birds they paired together in consecutive seasons after migration and returning to the same territory). They are a solitary, territorial nester.  The nest is an untidy bulky cup made of small twigs, rootlets, lichen and plant fibres, neatly lined with fine rootlets.  They normally lay eggs from September through to April (mainly October to February). 

Incubation is done mostly by the female, starting the night before the last egg is laid. The period of incubation ranges from 13.5 to 14 days. The female feeds for short spells during incubation, leaving the eggs unattended.

When the chicks have hatched, the adults remove the empty eggshells at least 10 metres from the nest. The chicks are pink skinned, naked and have yellow/orange gapes. They are brooded almost continuously for the 1st 3-4 days. They become quilled from 5-6 days and fledge around 13-15 days. The chicks are generally silent except when it is feeding time. Wing stretching and flapping starts after 11-12 days. Both adults feed young chicks on small earthworms and invertebrates.  Large chicks are fed with large beakfuls of earthworms.

The Spotted Ground Thrush is listed as vulnerable in South Africa and endangered in Africa.  This is mostly due to the decline of coastal dune forests in KwaZulu-Natal (their wintering grounds). Protections of remaining forests are therefore imperative. Breeding forests in Transkei and KwaZulu-Natal are partly protected, but measures to safeguard the Crowned Eagles are also essential to safeguard exposed Spotted Ground-Thrush nests from predation by monkeys (as monkeys are the Crowned Eagles preferred prey).