The grey-sided laughingthrush is a small to medium-sized songbird that inhabits montane forest areas

The grey-sided laughingthrush is a small to medium-sized songbird of the laughingthrush group in the order Passeriformes, and a typical bird of mountain forests. It gets its name from the distinct grey feather patches on its wings; its overall plumage is mainly brownish and grey, plain in appearance yet still recognizable. There are many species of laughingthrushes, and the grey-sided laughingthrush is one of the more widely distributed members.

An adult is over twenty cm in body length, with a rather short, slightly downcurved bill that is well suited to turning over food on the ground and among shrubs. The plumage on the head is on the darker side, the ear coverts often carry fine pale streaks, and the wing coverts are grey in tone, making the bird fairly easy to identify as it moves through the woods or in flight.

In terms of distribution, the grey-sided laughingthrush is found mainly in the mountains of southwestern and southern China, extending westward to areas around the Himalayas and southward to northern Indochina. It mostly inhabits broadleaf forests, mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests and shrubby forest edges at low to middle elevations, and sometimes also appears in open woodland near villages.

This bird likes to move about in small flocks and is lively in temperament, often flipping through fallen leaves among the undergrowth to forage. Its diet consists mainly of insects, supplemented by plant foods such as berries and seeds, and it helps to some extent in suppressing forest pests. Its calls are noisy and varied, and when a flock is active the calls rise and fall one after another, making it a common background sound in mountain woodlands.

For birdwatchers, early morning and late afternoon are the better times to observe the grey-sided laughingthrush; walking slowly along paths at the forest edge and watching for movement in the shrubs often brings results. Because these birds depend on a healthy forest environment, protecting natural vegetation and reducing trapping and human disturbance are very important for the survival of their populations.