California Thrasher

Toxostoma redivivumOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Codes: Common Name: CATH Scientific Name: TOXRED ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178642

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Overview

California Thrasher: Large, slender thrasher with dark brown upperparts and paler gray-brown underparts. Face is finely streaked, eyes are dark, and black bill is very long and down curved. Throat has small buff patch. Tail is long with reddish-brown undertail coverts. Legs and feet are gray-brown.

Range and Habitat

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

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chuck", "chur-erp"

Interesting Facts

The California Thrasher is the largest of the thrashers.

First collected by French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, Compte de La Pérouse in 1786, it was also found on Alejandro Malaspina’s 1791 voyage to the Pacific Coast. In 1842 William Gambel collected it, and his “rediscovery” of the California Thrasher is reflected in its species name, redivivum, meaning “resurrected."

It has been observed standing on nests of carpenter ants and allowing them to run over its body and through feathers, a behavior known as anting.

It has been reported to mimic the songs of such birds as the Northern Flicker, House Finch, Bullocks Oriole, American Robin, and Red-tailed Hawk.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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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.

California Thrasher

● Song: "chuck", "chur-erp"

● Foraging & 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.

● Breeding & 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.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Long flights on swift, shallow wing beats.

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

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationWidespread

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight3 Ounces

Perching-like Body

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