Bendire's Thrasher
Toxostoma bendirei
Dusty-brown bird with long tail, found in shrubby deserts and grasslands. Tail dark with small white corners; undertail coverts warmer orangey. Eye yellow. Very similar to Curve-billed Thrasher. Subtle differences include smaller, more triangular-shaped markings on breast, and shorter, straighter bill. Shy; often hard to spot on the ground but sometimes perches conspicuously when singing. Ages and sexes similar; juveniles show faint buffy wingbars. Listen for jumbled, rambling song.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Toxostoma bendirei
- Authority
- (Coues, 1873)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Mimidae
- Genus
- Toxostoma
Range and habitat
Bendire's thrasher lives in the brush-filled deserts and valleys and drylands of the south-western United States, mainly along the southern border that Arizona and New Mexico shares with Mexico, (the Madrean sky islands, mountain range sky islands of the northern Mexican range: Sierra Madre Occidental).<p>The species has been described as polytypic, with two subspecies in addition to the nominate form.<p>Toxostoma bendirei (Coues, 1873): Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, California; in Mexico, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California.<p>Toxostoma bendirei candidum van Rossem, 1942: Desert of western Mexico in western Sonora.<p>Toxostoma bendirei rubricatum van Rossem, 1942: Interior of southern and central Sonora and the coastal areas near Isla Tiburón.<p>There is also a 1988 record of it from Alberta, Canada, based on a photograph taken of the subject.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
The Bendire's thrasher is listed as Vulnerable due to range-wide declines primarily as a result of the conversion of habitat to farmland.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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White-crested Spadebill
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Ash-browed Spinetail
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