Brown thrasher | |
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Adult in New York, U.S. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Mimidae |
Genus: | Toxostoma |
Species: | T. rufum |
Binomial name | |
Toxostoma rufum | |
Range of T. rufum Breeding range Year-round range Wintering range | |
Synonyms | |
The brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), sometimes erroneously called the brown thrush or fox-coloured thrush, is a bird in the family Mimidae, which also includes the New World catbirds and mockingbirds. The brown thrasher is abundant throughout the eastern and central United States and southern and central Canada, and it is the only thrasher to live primarily east of the Rockies and central Texas. It is the state bird of Georgia.
As a member of the genus Toxostoma , the bird is relatively large-sized among the other thrashers. It has brown upper parts with a white under part with dark streaks. Because of this, it is often confused with the smaller wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), among other species. The brown thrasher is noted for having over 1000 song types, and the largest song repertoire of birds. [3] However, each note is usually repeated in two or three phrases.
The brown thrasher is an omnivore, with its diet ranging from insects to fruits and nuts. The usual nesting areas are shrubs, small trees, or at times on ground level. Brown thrashers are generally inconspicuous but territorial birds, especially when defending their nests, and will attack species as large as humans. [4]
The brown thrasher was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Turdus rufus. [5] The genus name Toxostoma comes from the Ancient Greek toxon, "bow" or "arch" and stoma, "mouth". The specific rufum is Latin for "red", but covers a wider range of hues than the English term. [6]
Although not in the thrush family, this bird is sometimes erroneously called the brown thrush. [7] The name misconception could be because the word thrasher is believed to derive from the word thrush. [8] [9] The naturalist Mark Catesby called it the fox-coloured thrush. [10]
Genetic studies have found that the brown thrasher is most closely related to the long-billed and Cozumel thrashers (T. longirostre & guttatum), within the genus Toxostoma. [11] [12]
The brown thrasher is bright reddish-brown above with thin, dark streaks on its buffy underparts. [13] It has a whitish-colored chest with distinguished teardrop-shaped markings on its chest. Its long, rufous tail is rounded with paler corners, and eyes are a brilliant yellow. Its bill is brownish, long, and curves downward. Both male and females are similar in appearance. [14] The juvenile appearance of the brown thrasher from the adult is not remarkably different, except for plumage texture, indiscreet upper part markings, and the irises having an olive color. [10]
The brown thrasher is a fairly large passerine, although it is generally moderate in size for a thrasher, being distinctly larger than the sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) but similar or somewhat smaller in size than the more brownish Toxostoma species found further west. Adults measure around 23.5 to 30.5 cm (9.3 to 12.0 in) long with a wingspan of 29 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in), and weigh 61 to 89 g (2.2 to 3.1 oz), with an average of 68 g (2.4 oz). [15] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 9.5 to 11.5 cm (3.7 to 4.5 in), the tail is 10.9 to 14.1 cm (4.3 to 5.6 in), the culmen is 2.2 to 2.9 cm (0.87 to 1.14 in) and the tarsus is 3.2 to 3.6 cm (1.3 to 1.4 in). [10] There are two subspecies: [10] the 'brown thrasher' (T. rufum rufum), which lies in the eastern half of Canada and the United States, [10] and the 'western brown thrasher' (T. rufum longicauda (Baird, 1858)), [16] [17] which resides in the central United States east of the Rocky Mountains and southern central Canada. The western brown thrasher is distinguished by a more cinnamon upper part, whiter wing bars, and darker breast spots than T.rufum rufum. [10] [17]
The lifespan of the brown thrasher varies on a year-to-year basis, as the rate of survival the first year is 35%, 50% in between the second and third year, and 75% between the third and fourth year. [14] Disease and exposure to cold weather are among contributing factors for the limits of the lifespan. However, the longest lived thrasher in the wild is 12 years, and relatively the same for ones in captivity. [14]
The similar-looking long-billed thrasher has a significantly smaller range. [18] It has a gray head and neck, and has a longer bill than the brown thrasher. [10] The brown thrasher's appearance is also strikingly similar to the wood thrush, the bird that it is usually mistaken for. [10] However, the wood thrush has dark rounded spots on its under parts rather than the brown thrashers' elongated streaks, has dark eyes, shorter tail, a shorter, straighter bill (with the head generally more typical of a thrush), and is a smaller bird. [10] [19]
The brown thrasher resides in various habitats. It prefers to live in woodland edges, thickets and dense brush, [20] often searching for food in dry leaves on the ground. [21] It can also inhabit areas that are agricultural and near suburban areas, but is less likely to live near housing than other bird species. [10] [14] The brown thrasher often vies for habitat and potential nesting grounds with other birds, which is usually initiated by the males. [14]
The brown thrasher is a strong, but partial migrant, as the bird is a year-round resident in the southern portion of its range. [8] The breeding range includes the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, but has been occasionally spotted West of the Rockies. [22] [23] The increase in trees throughout the Great Plains during the past century due to fire suppression and tree planting facilitated a westward range expansion of the brown thrasher [24] as well as range expansions of many other species of birds. [25] [26] [27] Studies indicate that thrashers that reside in the New England region of the United States during the breeding season fly toward the Carolinas and Georgia, birds located in the east of the Mississippi winter from Arkansas to Georgia, and birds located in the Dakotas and the central Canadian provinces head towards eastern Texas and Louisiana. [10] When the species does migrate, it is typically for short distances and during the night. [14] There are also records of the bird wintering in Mexico, [28] as well as a British record of a transatlantic vagrant. [29]
The brown thrasher has been observed either solo or in pairs. The brown thrasher is usually an elusive bird, and maintains its evasiveness with low-level flying. [30] [31] When it feels bothered, it usually hides into thickets and gives cackling calls. [31] Thrashers spend most of their time on ground level or near it. When seen, it is commonly the males that are singing from unadorned branches. [32] The brown thrasher has been noted for having an aggressive behavior, [33] and is a staunch defender of its nest. [14] However, the name does not come from attacking perceived threats, but is believed to have come from the thrashing sound the bird makes when digging through ground debris. [14] [34] It is also thought that the name comes from the thrashing sound that is made while it is smashing large insects to kill and eventually eat. [35]
This bird is omnivorous, which has a diet that includes insects, berries, nuts and seeds, as well as earthworms, snails, and sometimes lizards and frogs. [36] Across seasons and its breeding range, it was found 63% of stomach contents were made of animal matter, the remaining 37% being plant material. [37] During the breeding season, the diet consists primarily of beetles, grasshoppers, and other arthropods, and fruits, nuts and seeds. More than 80% of the diet of brown thrasher from Illinois is made of animal matter, about 50% being beetles. [38] In Iowa, about 20% of the summer diet was found to consist of grasshoppers. [39] By the late summer, it begins to shift towards more of a herbivore diet, focusing on fruits, nuts, seeds, and grains, 60% of the food in Illinois being fruits and seeds. [38] [40] By winter, the customary diet of the brown thrasher is fruit and acorns. [41] Wintering birds in Texas were found to eat 58% plant material (mainly sugar berry and poison ivy) and 42% animal material in October; by March, in the dry period when food supply is generally lower, 80% of the food became animal and only 20% plants. [42] Vertebrates are only eaten occasionally and are often comprised by small reptiles and amphibians, such as lizards, small or young snakes, tree frogs and salamanders. [37] [43]
The brown thrasher utilizes its vision while scouring for food. It usually forages for food under leaves, brushes, and soil debris on the ground using its bill. [44] It then swipes the floor in side-to-side motions, and investigates the area it recently foraged in. [14] The brown thrasher forages in a similar method to the long-billed thrasher and Bendire's thrasher (T. longirostre & bendirei), picking food off the ground and under leaf litter, whereas thrashers with sharply decurved bills are more likely to dig into the ground to obtain food. [45] Foraging success is 25% greater in dry leaf litter as compared to damp leaf letter. [46] The brown thrasher can also hammer nuts such as acorns in order to remove the shell. [14] It has also been noted for its flexibility in catching quick insects, as the amount of vertebrae in its neck exceeds giraffes and camels. [47] In one case, a brown thrasher was observed to dig a hole about 1.5 cm (0.59 in) deep, place an acorn in it and hit the acorn until it cracked, considered to be a form of tool usage. [48] In a laboratory experiment, a brown thrasher was found to be able to discern and reject the toxic eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) and a palatable mimic of that species, the red salamander (Pseudotriton ruber), but continued to eat palatable dusky salamanders (Desmognathus spp.). [49]
Brown thrashers are typically monogamous birds, but mate-switching does occur, at times during the same season. [36] [50] Their breeding season varies by region. In the southeastern United States, the breeding months begin in February and March, while May and June see the commencement of breeding in the northern portion of their breeding range. When males enter the breeding grounds, their territory can range from 2 to 10 acres (0.81 to 4.05 ha). [50] [51] Around this time of the year the males are usually at their most active, singing loudly to attract potential mates, and are found on top of perches. [36] [52] The courting ritual involves the exchanging of probable nesting material. Males will sing gentler as they sight a female, and this enacts the female to grab a twig or leaf and present it to the male, with flapping wings and chirping sounds. The males might also present a gift in response and approach the female. [53] [54] Both sexes will take part in nest building once mates find each other, and will mate after the nest is completed. [14]
The female lays 3 to 5 eggs, that usually appears with a blueish or greenish tint along with reddish-brown spots. [20] There are rare occurrences of no spots on the eggs. [4] The nest is built twiggy, lined with grass, leaves, and other forms of dead vegetation. The nests are typically built in a dense shrub or low in a tree, usually up to 2.1 m (6.9 ft) high, but have built nests as high as 6 m (20 ft). [4] They also on occasion build nests on the ground. Between eleven days to two weeks, the eggs hatch. Both parents incubate and feed the young, with the female doing most of the incubating. Nine to thirteen days after hatching, the nestlings begin to fledge. These birds raise two, sometimes even three, broods in a year. [55] The male sings a series of short repeated melodious phrases from an open perch to declare his territory, [56] and is also very aggressive in defending the nest, known to strike people and animals. [57]
The male brown thrasher may have the largest song repertoire of any North American bird, which has been documented as at least over 1,100 songs. [14] Some sources state that each individual has up to 3,000 song phrases, [58] [59] while others put the number beyond 3,000. [60] [61] [62] The males' singing voice usually contains more of a melodic tone than that of the related grey catbird. [63] Its song are coherent phrases that are iterated no more than three times, but has been done for minutes at a time. [4] [64] By the fall, the male sings with smoother sub-songs. [4] During the winter, the males may also sing in short spurts during altercations with neighboring males. [41]
In the birds' youth, alarm noises are the sounds made. [14] As an adult, the brown thrasher has an array of sounds it will make in various situations. Both male and females make smack and teeooo-like alarm calls when provoked, and hijjj sounds at dusk and dawn. [65] Others calls may consist of an acute, sudden chakk, [4] rrrrr, a Tcheh sound in the beginning that ends with an eeeur, kakaka, and sounds reminiscent of a stick scraping a concrete sidewalk. [66] Brown thrashers are noted for their mimicry (as a member of the family Mimidae), but they are not as diverse in this category as their relative the northern mockingbird. [4] [35] However, during the breeding season, the mimicking ability of the male is at its best display, impersonating sounds from tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor), northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), wood thrushes, northern flickers (Colaptes auratus), among other species. [50]
Although this bird is widespread and still common, it has declined in numbers in some areas due to loss of suitable habitat. [67] [68] [69] Despite the decrease, the rate does not warrant a status towards vulnerable. [70] One of the natural nuisances is the parasitic brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), but these incidents are rare. Whenever these situations occur, the brown thrashers usually discard of the cowbirds' eggs. [24] [71] Occasionally, the thrasher has thrown out their own eggs instead of the cowbird eggs due to similar egg size, [72] and at least one recorded event raised a fledgling. [71] Northern cardinals and grey catbirds are also major competitors for thrashers in terms of territorial gain. [72] Because of the apparent lack of opportunistic behavior around species like these, thrashers are prone to be driven out of zones for territory competition. [73] Brown thrashers have tendencies to double-brood or have failures on their first nesting attempts due to predation. [74] Grey catbirds have been seen invading brown thrashers' nests and breaking their eggs. [14] Other than the catbird, snakes, birds of prey, and cats are among the top predators of the thrasher. [75] In Kansas, at least eight species of snake were identified as potentially serious sources of nest failure. [76] Among the identified avian predators of adults are Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii), [77] northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), [78] broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus), [79] merlins (Falco columbarius), [80] peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), [81] eastern screech-owls (Megascops asio), [82] great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) [83] barred owls (Strix varia) [84] and long-eared owls (Asio otus). [84]
The brown thrasher methods of defending itself include using its bill, which can inflict significant damage to species smaller than it, along with wing-flapping and vocal expressions. [75]
The brown thrasher is the state bird of Georgia. [85] [86] The brown thrasher also was the inspiration for the name of Atlanta's former National Hockey League team, the Atlanta Thrashers, [87] who relocated in 2011 to become the current Winnipeg Jets (the original Jets relocated to Phoenix in 1996 to become the Coyotes). [88]
The mistle thrush, also spelled missel thrush, is a bird common to much of Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa. It is a year-round resident in a large part of its range, but northern and eastern populations migrate south for the winter, often in small flocks. It is a large thrush with pale grey-brown upper parts, a greyish-white chin and throat, and black spots on its pale yellow and off-white under parts. The sexes are similar in plumage, and its three subspecies show only minimal differences. The male has a loud, far-carrying song which is delivered even in wet and windy weather, earning the bird the old name of stormcock.
The mimids are the New World family of passerine birds, Mimidae, that includes thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers, and the New World catbirds. As their name suggests, these birds are notable for their vocalization, especially some species' remarkable ability to mimic a wide variety of birds and other sounds heard outdoors. They are commonly referred to as mimic thrushes but are not, in fact, thrushes.
Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera.
The wood thrush is a North American passerine bird in the family Turdidae and is the only species placed in the genus Hylocichla. It is closely related to other thrushes such as the American robin and is widely distributed across North America, wintering in Central America and southern Mexico. The wood thrush is the official bird of the District of Columbia.
The northern mockingbird is a mockingbird commonly found in North America, of the family Mimidae. The species is also found in some parts of the Caribbean, as well as on the Hawaiian Islands. It is typically a permanent resident across much of its range, but northern mockingbirds may move farther south during inclement weather or prior to the onset of winter. The northern mockingbird has gray to brown upper feathers and a paler belly. Its tail and wings have white patches which are visible in flight.
The gray catbird, also spelled grey catbird, is a medium-sized North American and Central American perching bird of the mimid family. It is the only member of the "catbird" genus Dumetella. Like the black catbird, it is among the basal lineages of the Mimidae, probably a closer relative of the Caribbean thrasher and trembler assemblage than of the mockingbirds and Toxostoma thrashers. In some areas it is known as the slate-colored mockingbird.
The veery is a small North American thrush species, a member of a group of closely related and similar species in the genus Catharus, also including the gray-cheeked thrush, Bicknell's thrush, Swainson's thrush, and hermit thrush. Alternate names for this species include Wilson's thrush and tawny thrush. Up to six subspecies exist, which are grouped into the eastern veery, the western veery or willow thrush, and the Newfoundland veery.
The house wren is a very small bird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed native bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban areas in its range and it is the single most common wren. Its taxonomy is highly complex and some subspecies groups are often considered separate species. The name troglodytes means "hole dweller", and is a reference to the bird's tendency to disappear into crevices when hunting insects or to seek shelter.
The Carolina wren is a common species of wren that is a resident in the Eastern United States, the extreme south of Ontario, Canada, and the extreme northeast of Mexico. Severe winters restrict the northern limits of their range, while favorable weather conditions lead to a northward extension of their breeding range. Their preferred habitat is in dense cover in forest, farm edges, and suburban areas. This wren is the state bird of South Carolina.
The Cozumel thrasher is a bird from the mockingbird family (Mimidae), which is endemic to the island of Cozumel off the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. It is believed to be the most critically endangered species of bird in Mexico – if it indeed still exists, which is probable but not certain.
The curve-billed thrasher is a medium-sized mimid native to most of Mexico and to the deserts of southwestern United States. It is a non-migratory species, and throughout most of its range it is the most common desert thrasher. Several subspecies have been classified since 1827, though there is no consensus on the number. Allopatric speciation is believed to have played a major role in the variations of the curve-billed. It is grey-brown overall with a slightly curved bill, and is similar in appearance to the related Bendire's thrasher. It generally resides in desert regions of the United States and Mexico, but can inhabit areas predominately populated by humans.
LeConte's thrasher is a pale bird found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It prefers to live in deserts with very little vegetation, where it blends in with the sandy soils. LeConte's thrashers are nonmigratory birds that reside in the same territory annually. Although the species has been decreasing in certain areas of its range, in particular California, it still is abundant enough to not be considered for vulnerable status.
The crissal thrasher is a large thrasher found in the Southwestern United States to central Mexico.
The California thrasher is a large member of family Mimidae found primarily in chaparral habitat in California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico. It is the only species of the genus Toxostoma throughout most of its range.
The gray thrasher is a medium-sized passerine bird belonging to the family Mimidae. It is endemic to the Baja California peninsula of Mexico.
The long-billed thrasher is a medium-sized resident songbird of South Texas and eastern Mexico. It bears a strong resemblance to its close relative the brown thrasher in appearance, calls, and various other behaviors; however, the two species do not overlap in range except in the winter when the brown thrasher will temporarily reside in the northern range of the long-billed.
The black catbird is a songbird species in the monotypic genus Melanoptila, part of the family Mimidae. At 19–20.5 cm (7.5–8.1 in) in length and 31.6–42 g (1.11–1.48 oz) in mass, it is the smallest of the mimids. Sexes appear similar, with glossy black plumage, black legs and bill, and dark brownish eyes. The species is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula, and is found as far south as Campeche, northern Guatemala and northern Belize. Although there are historical records from Honduras and the US state of Texas, the species is not now known to occur in either location. It is found at low elevations in semi-arid to humid habitats ranging from shrubland and abandoned farmland to woodland with thick understory, and is primarily sedentary.
The ocellated thrasher is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to Mexico.