Bird name:

Brown Thrasher

Toxostoma rufum

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Code 4

BRTH

Code 6

TOXRUF

ITIS

178627

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

White to pale blue with light brown specks

Number of Eggs:

2 - 6

Incubation Days:

11 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with fine grasses., Sticks,grasses, and dried leaves.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Brown Thrasher: Medium-sized thrasher with rufous upperparts and black-streaked, pale brown underparts. Eyes are yellow and bill curves down. Wings have two white and black bars. Tail is long. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has dark eyes.

Range and Habitat

Brown Thrasher: Breeds from southeastern Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and northern New England south to the Gulf coast and Florida. Spends winters in southern part of breeding range.

Breeding and Nesting

Brown Thrasher: Two to six white to pale blue eggs, with light brown specks, are laid in a large nest built from sticks, grass, leaves, and rootlets, lined with grass, and built near the ground in a dense, often thorny bush. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Brown Thrasher: Feeds on insects, small amphibians, fruits, and some grain. Runs quickly on the ground when foraging, turning leaves over with bill to find food.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed, Nuts

Vocalization

Brown Thrasher: Male sings conversation-like phrases with varied phrases given in phrases of two's and three's. Call is a bold "smack" or "churr."

Similar Species

Brown Thrasher: Long-billed Thrasher has more gray-brown upperparts, darker streaks on dull white underparts, longer, more decurved bill, orange-red eyes, and long gray-brown tail.

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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.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

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