Brown Thrasher

Toxostoma rufum

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family MIMIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A large, skulking bird of thickets and hedgerows, the Brown Thrasher has one of the largest song repertoires of any North American bird. Boldly patterned, it is conspicuous when singing on its territory, but is hardly discernable during the rest of year.

Cool Facts

• Brown Thrasher is considered a short-distance migrant, but two individuals have been recorded in Europe: one in England and another in Germany.

• An aggressive defender of its nest, the Brown Thrasher is known to strike people and dogs hard enough to draw blood.

• Brown Thrashers leave the nest at only 9 to 13 days old, earlier than either of its smaller relatives, the Northern Mockingbird or Gray Catbird.

Description

• Size: 23-30 cm (9-12 in)
• Wingspan: 29-32 cm (11-13 in)
• Weight: 61-89 g (2.15-3.14 ounces)

• Large long-tailed songbird.
• Upperparts bright rufous.
• Underparts white or buff. with black streaking.

• Tail long and rufous.
• Two whitish wingbars.
• Bill straight.
• Eyes yellow.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Juvenile looks similar to adult, but upperparts with indistinct buff spotting, wingbars buff, and eyes gray.

Similar Species

• Wood Thrush is similar in color, but has round spots on breast, not streaks, a shorter tail, and no wingbars.
• Long-billed Thrasher has a grayer face, longer darker bill, and is duller brown.

Sound

Song is a long series of variable phrases separated by pauses. Phrases usually uttered twice. Includes mimicked calls of other birds. Call note is a "tchuck" like a smacking kiss.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from southern Canada south to east-central Texas and southern Florida, westward to southeastern Alberta and eastern Montana.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Missouri and southern New Jersey southward to Gulf Coast, east-central Texas, and southern Florida.

Habitat

• Breeds in brushy open country, thickets, shelter belts, riparian areas, and suburbs.
• Winters in hedgerows, gardens, thickets, and brushy woodland edges.

Food

Insects (especially beetles), other arthopods, fruits, and nuts.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds in leaf litter by using bill to sweep litter and soil away. Occasionally pecks and probes in litter.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A bulky cup made of twigs, lined with leaves, then with an inner lining of rootlets. Nest in dense shrubs,especially with thorns, up to 14 feet above ground (average 2-7 feet). Often placed on ground.

Egg Description

Color: Pale blue or white, minutely and heavily speckled with dingy brown markings.

Egg size: 25.4-27.9mm x 19.3-19.8mm.
(1.0-1.1 in x 0.76-0.78 in)

Incubation period: 11-14 days.

Clutch Size

Usually 2-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, with scattered tufts of down.
Chicks fledge in 11-12 days.

Conservation Status

Populations declining slowly throughout range, perhaps because of the maturation of shrublands in the East and the elimination of fencerows and shelter belts in the Great Plains.

Other Names

Moqueur roux (French)
Cuitlacoche rojizo (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Cavitt, J. F., and C. A. Haas. 2000. Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). In The Birds of North America, No. 557 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.