Bird name:

Curve-billed Thrasher

Toxostoma curvirostre

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Code 4

CBTH

Code 6

TOXCUR

ITIS

178637

Breeding Location:

Dense cactuses, Thorny shrubs

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Pale blue green with light brown spots

Number of Eggs:

1 - 5

Incubation Days:

12 - 15

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Twigs and rootlets., Lined with fine materials, including twigs and grass.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Curve-billed Thrasher: Medium-sized thrasher (palmeri), with gray upperparts and spotted, pale gray underparts. Eyes are orange-red and bill is long and decurved. Tail is long and dark gray. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has straighter and shorter bill, and yellow eyes.

Range and Habitat

Curve-billed Thrasher: Resident from southwestern U.S. to southern Mexico. Preferred habitats include dense aggregations of cholla cactus, mesquite, or palo verde. Also uses dense growth in urban areas.

Breeding and Nesting

Curve-billed Thrasher: One to five pale blue green eggs with light brown spots are laid in a nest made of twigs and rootlets, lined with fine materials, and built in a dense thorny desert shrub or in a branching clump of cactus, usually 2 to 8 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Curve-billed Thrasher: Eats mostly insects, but also cactus seeds and fruits, and various berries; forages on the ground, tossing aside litter in search of food.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed, Nuts

Vocalization

Curve-billed Thrasher: Song is melodic, varied, and intricate, with low trills and warbles, often with two or three repetitions of phrases. Call is a sharp "whit-wheet", which sometimes includes three notes.

Similar Species

Curve-billed Thrasher: Bendire`s Thrasher has smaller size and straighter bill with a yellow base to lower mandible and lower call. Sage Thrasher is smaller, has yellow eyes, short straight slender bill, white underparts, two white wing-bars and white-tipped outer tail feathers.

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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