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Bird name:

California Thrasher

Toxostoma redivivum

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Code 4

CATH

Code 6

TOXRED

ITIS

178642

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Desert, Desert, semi, Scrub vegetation areas

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Widespread

Egg Color:

Pale blue with faint light brown spots

Number of Eggs:

2 - 4

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Grass-lined with roots and twigs.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

California Thrasher: Large, slender thrasher with dark brown upperparts and paler gray-brown underparts. Face is finely streaked, eyes are dark, and bill is very long and down curved. Throat has small buff patch. Tail is long with reddish-brown undertail coverts. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has buff edges on wing feathers.

Range and Habitat

California Thrasher: Resident in California west of Sierra Nevada. Preferred habitats include chaparral, foothills, and dense shrubs in parks or gardens.

Breeding and Nesting

California Thrasher: Two to four pale blue eggs with light brown spots, are laid in a bowl-shaped nest made of sticks and roots, lined with finer materials, and built in a shrub. Eggs are incubated for approximately 14 days by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

California Thrasher: Diet consists of insects, spiders, seeds of berries, hazelnuts, weeds, and small fruits; forages by digging in soil and turning over leaves with its bill.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed, Nuts

Vocalization

California Thrasher: Expert mimic. Call is a low harsh "chuck" or throaty "quip."

Similar Species

California Thrasher: Crissal Thrasher is darker behind eye, paler cheeks and more rust-brown on undertail coverts. Le Conte's Thrasher is paler overall and lacks pale area behind eye and dark cheeks.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America