Bird name:

Bendire's Thrasher

Toxostoma bendirei

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Code 4

BETH

Code 6

TOXBEN

ITIS

178636

Breeding Location:

Desert, Desert, semi, Grassland

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

Green to gray green with brown marks at large end

Number of Eggs:

3 - 5

Incubation Days:

12 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Sticks., Lined with leaves, grasses, rootlets, and other fine materials.

Migration:

Northern birds migrate

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General

Bendire's Thrasher: Medium-sized thrasher with olive-brown upperparts and spotted buff underparts. Bill is short, gray and only slightly decurved with pale pink lower mandible base. Eyes are yellow-orange. Tail is long, olive-brown above, black with white tips below, and has brown undertail coverts. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Bendire's Thrasher: Breeds in southeastern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, southern Colorado, and western and central New Mexico south to central Sonora. Spends winters in northwestern Mexico. Preferred habitats include semi-desert and desert areas, with large shrubs or cacti and open ground, and open woodlands with scattered shrubs and trees.

Breeding and Nesting

Bendire's Thrasher: Three to five brown-marked, green to gray green eggs are laid in a cup nest made of sticks and lined with leaves, grass, pieces of fabric, rootlets, and other fine materials. Nest is built 3 to 5 feet above the ground in a shrub, small tree, or cactus. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Bendire's Thrasher: Eats primarily insects but also takes some fruits; forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed, Nuts

Vocalization

Bendire's Thrasher: Song is a pleasant warbling mix of phrases, repeated one to three times. Call is a low, coarse "chek" or "chek-chek."

Similar Species

Bendire's Thrasher: Curve-billed Thrasher is larger and bulkier, with larger bill, brighter orange eyes, and different call.

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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.

Lower mandible

The lower part of the bill.

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