The Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma rufum, can be found throughout eastern Canada and United States east of the Rockies.

The bird is easy to hear but hard to see. It has a beautiful song.

Classification:

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Mimidae
Genus: Toxostoma
Species: T. rufum

Photos:

Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)

"just hanging out in a thicket developing in the back yard. Brown Thrasher is a member of the Mimidae (mimic thrushes) along with Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird and its many Western thrasher cousins. its proper name, Toxostoma rufum, translates as "reddish bow-mouth" for the rusty plumage coloration and the slightly de-curved bill (this bird appears to be a juvenile.) among North American songbirds, Brown Thrasher holds the distinction of having the largest known vocabulary, with as many as 1,500 phrases/song types. the name "thrasher" does not derive from its habit of tossing thru leaf litter, mulch, etc. but is from a Latin term for "thrush." regarding their intelligence, i have a habit of throwing a handful of peanuts out a cpl times a day. when the thrashers are nearby, they hear the peanuts hitting the ground, scoot over and wait for me to stop tossing. occasionally when i’m being a slacker, they remind me they’d like a peanut, and wait for me to toss some out. they’ve trained me pretty well. there aren’t any dumb animals living in the wild; the dumb ones don’t last for very long. amazingly, lots of dumb humans live exceptionally long lives… ;)"

Photo courtesy of Carolinensis

Brown Thrasher

"There is a bush in the park where I always see Brown Thrashers. Walked past the bush today and they started hollering. They have never done that before. I turned around to see what was wrong and their baby was following me! I shooed it back, took some pics and started to leave. It kept following. They kept hollering. LOL Took awhile but I finally got the baby turned around and back to it’s bush. Mom and dad were happy."

Photo courtesy of  Carla Finley

Brown Thrasher

"A Brown Thrasher feeds in a backyard in Memphis."

Photo courtesy of  AllHarts

Brown Thrasher (Juvenile) - Toxostoma rufum

"Brown Thrasher - Toxostoma rufum In Florida the Brown Thrasher is a common but inconspicuous permanent resident whose numbers in winter are augmented by migrants from farther north. It is not nearly as abundant as its close relative the Northern Mockingbird. However, it does occur in forested habitats where the Northern Mockingbird is absent. The Brown Thrasher breeds east of the Rocky Mountains, north into southern Canada, and south to eastern Texas, the Gulf coast and south Florida. It winters in the southeastern United States to south Florida, occasionally well outside these limits. Habitat. The Brown Thrasher occurs in dry thickets, brushy pastures, forest edges, fencerows, and garden shrubbery. It forages mostly near the ground, where it feeds on large insects and arthropods, berries, acorns, and small amphibians and reptiles uncovered by tossing aside leaves and digging with its long bill. Despite its affinity for the ground, the male often selects the highest available perch to deliver his song. During the nonbreeding season the Brown Thrasher is extremely inconspicuous. Away from feeders, often the only clue to its existence is a barely audible single call given at dawn and dusk and answered by all other thrashers in the neighborhood (F. Lohrer, pers. obs). The large, bulky nest is built of twigs, bark, and grasses on a low tree branch in a shrub or bush, or sometimes even on the ground. The eggs are pale bluish-white, occasionally greenish, and are spotted with reddish-brown In Florida the clutch size is usually 3 eggs, incubation lasts 12 to 14 days, and the young leave the nest at 9 to 13 days of age (Stevenson and Anderson 1994). Seasonal Occurrence. Migrants arrive in mid-September and depart in April (Stevenson and Anderson 1994) Today the species breeds nearly throughout the mainland and, at least occasionally, in the Keys. Brown Thrashers are double-brooded and are occasionally hosts to the Brown-headed Cowbird. They are the largest bird in the United States to raise cowbirds (Terres 1980). Status. The Brown Thrasher breeds throughout most of the state, but is absent from the southwestern mainland and much of the central Everglades. The Brown Thrasher has become a regular breeder in the southern half of the peninsula only since about 1930 and first nested in the Florida Keys in 1986 where it is stilL a rare breeder (Howell 1932, Stevenson and Anderson 1994). Because of its shy, retiring habits, the Brown Thrasher was confirmed in only 59% of the quadrangles surveyed. Fred E. Lohrer"

Photo courtesy of  CARIBOUB

Brown Thrasher In Snow on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It snowed last night so I set up everything to be ready to go this morning. I took this shot of a Brown Thrasher out of my bathroom window. Thrashers are sort of "Half-hearty" when it comes to winter. For the last few years, …   Read more…

Burning Daylight » Blog Archive » Brown Thrasher

Brown Thrasher. May 23rd, 2008 by Ethan. _o8i2582-33.jpg. A Brown Thrasher on the sidewalk outside my house. Posted in birds |. Leave a Comment. Name. Mail (will not be published). Website. Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and …   Read more…

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Birding on Broadmeade: Hawk, Owl, Brown Thrasher

I suspected it was a Brown Thrasher. These are related to Mockingbirds but we only get a few of them in the neighborhood during the winter. They are real skulkers and usually stay in the low dense brush. I kept hearing this call note …   Read more…

Chesapeake Bay Journal: Brown Thrasher - September 2008

That could be a brown thrasher looking for its next meal. Even if you have never seen a brown thrasher, there is a good chance that you have heard one. It is one of the Bay watershed’s most talented singers. …   Read more…

the Northwest Nature Nut: Six Out of Twelve Isn’t Bad

Here are the six from The List that I saw: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, and Brown Thrasher. Two lovely ladies who work in a local wild bird supply store took us …   Read more…

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker’s Early Morning Call | Bird Watching Blog

A Brown Thrasher foraged under wax myrtles, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet searched the branches of the same bushes. The mew of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nearby sounded so different from its usual rather thin, whining mee-ah that I wasn’t …   Read more…