BROWN THRASHER GALLERY
(Toxostoma rufum)

eBird offers this description of the Brown Thrasher:  Longer-tailed and slightly larger than a robin. Rich rufous upperparts and heavy dark streaking on whitish underparts. Yellow eyes. Often skulks in thick vegetation in scrubby fields and forest edges. Mimics other species in its song, delivering a complex string of paired phrases.

All About Birds adds to the description of the Brown Thrasher with this:  It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden. Brown Thrashers wear a somewhat severe expression thanks to their heavy, slightly downcurved bill and staring yellow eyes, and they are the only thrasher species east of Texas. Brown Thrashers are exuberant singers, with one of the largest repertoires of any North American songbird. 

I spotted a Brown Thrasher on the morning of April 27, 2020, at Sabine Woods, near the eastern water feature.  The Brown Thrasher I observed was very cautious, hanging around the edges of the clearing for a short time.  Also, the bird I saw appeared to have its right eye missing.

One eyed Brown Thrasher at Sabine Woods, April 27, 2020. Such bold markings on the breast!
A cautious Brown Thrasher at Sabine Woods, April 27, 2020.


“Cool Facts” About the Brown Thrasher From All About Birds…

  • An aggressive defender of its nest, the Brown Thrasher is known to strike people and dogs hard enough to draw blood.
  • Brown Thrashers are accomplished songsters that may sing more than 1,100 different song types and include imitations of other birds, including Chuck-will’s-widows, Wood Thrushes, and Northern Flickers.
  • At least one early naturalist thought the Brown Thrasher’s song was underappreciated, writing “Much of the [acclaim] which has fallen to the Mockingbird is really due to the unperceived efforts of the Brown Thrasher. It is the opinion of many ornithologists that the song… is richer, fuller, and definitely more melodious than that of polyglottis” (the Northern Mockingbird).
  • Both males and females help incubate the eggs and feed the young. Nestlings sometimes leave the nest fully feathered within nine days of hatching—earlier than either of their smaller relatives, the Northern Mockingbird and Gray Catbird. Shrubby habitats are popular hideouts for nest predators, which may explain why the thrashers fledge so quickly for birds of their size.
  • Brown Thrashers are the largest common host of parasitic Brown-headed Cowbirds. The thrashers do put up some resistance, often rejecting cowbird eggs that are laid in their nests.
  • The Brown Thrasher is considered a short-distance migrant, but two individuals have been recorded in Europe: one in England and another in Germany.
  • The oldest Brown Thrasher on record was at least 12 years, 10 months old, and was found in North Carolina.