Toxostoma rufum

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Preferred habitat of the Brown Thrasher is shrubby vegetation or any dense understory . It is commonly seen in residential areas and overgrown fields .

Vegetation: arid lowland scrubs, riparian thickets, arid lowland scrubs • Maximum Elevation: 1,000 meters • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: Low

Ecology: List of Habitats : 1.4 Forest - Temperate

Biology

Diet

This species eats a variety of food including insects, invertebrates , small vertebrates , fruits, and nuts. It finds its food by using its bill to move the leaf litter and ground debris . Mostly: Fruit. Lesser Quantities of: Insects Seeds Reptiles or Amphibians

Reproduction

The breeding season begins in late March, peaks in May, and extends through July. The nest is usually on the ground or up to 1 m (5 feet) high in shrubs or bushes. The cup-shaped nest is built by both the male and female out of twigs , dead leaves, and other vegetation. The female lays 2-6 (usually 4-5) eggs that both adults incubate for 11-14 days. The young are altricial and fledge 9-13 days after hatching . Both adults brood and care for young until they fledge and for a short period after fledging.

• Breeding Habitat : Successional-scrub
• Nest Location: Ground-low nesting
• Nest Type: Open-cup
• Clutch Size: 2-5
• Length of Incubation : 11-14 days
• Days to Fledge: 9-13
• Number of Broods: 2, rarely 3?

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001.

Similar Species

The most similar species in the South is the Long-billed Thrasher, although their range barely overlaps. The Long-billed Thrasher is found throughout the year in the southern portion of Texas. The Long-billed Thrasher has a gray head and neck which the Brown Thrasher lacks and also has a longer bill. A more common species which at a glance can appear similar to the Brown Thrasher is the Wood Thrush. The Wood Thrush has a shorter bill, shorter tail, dark eye, and lacks wing bars. Long-Billed Thrasher

Members of the genus Toxostoma

There are approximately 39 species in this genus:

T. arenicola · T. bendirei (Bendire's Thrasher) · T. cinereum (St. Lucas Thrasher) · T. cinereum cinereum (St. Lucas Thrasher) · T. cinereum mearnsi · T. crissale (Trinidad Thrasher) · T. crissale coloradense · T. crissale crissale · T. crissalis · T. curvirostre (Curve-Billed Thrasher) · T. curvirostre celsum (Curve-Billed Thrasher) · T. curvirostre curvirostre (Curve-Billed Thrasher) · T. curvirostre insularum · T. curvirostre maculatum · T. curvirostre oberholseri (Curve-Billed Thrasher) · T. curvirostre occidentale · T. curvirostre palmeri (Curve-Billed Thrasher) · T. dorsale (Red-Vented Thrasher) · T. dorsale coloradense · T. dorsale dorsale (Red-Vented Thrasher) · T. dorsale trinitatis · T. guttatum (Cozumel Thrasher) · T. lecontei (Le Conte's Thrasher) · T. lecontei arenicola (Le Conte's Thrasher) · T. lecontei lecontei (Le Conte's Thrasher) · T. lecontei macmillanorum · T. longirostre (Long-Billed Thrasher) · T. longirostre longirostre (Long-Billed Thrasher) · T. longirostre sennetti (Long-Billed Thrasher) · T. ocellatum (Ocellated Thrasher) · T. palmeri · T. redivivum (California Thrasher) · T. redivivum redivivum (California Thrasher) · T. redivivum sonomae (California Thrasher) · T. rufa · T. rufum (French Mocking-Bird) · T. rufum longicauda (Brown Thrasher) · T. rufum rufum (French Mocking-Bird) · T. vetula

More Info

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Further Reading

• A bibliography of birds: with special reference to anatomy, behavior, biochemistry --. by Reuben Myron Strong Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1959 UND url p. 174, p. 211.
• A checklist of the vertebrate animals of Kansas / George D. Potts, Joseph T. Collins. [Lawrence, Kan.]: Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, 1991. ENG url p. 15.
• A geographic classification of Neotropical mammals. [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1958. ENG url p. 644.
• A guide to the birds of New England and eastern New York; containing a key for each season and short descriptions of over 250 species, with particular reference to their appearance in the field, by Ralph Huffmann...with four full page plates by Louis Agas BostonHoughton, Mifflin and company1904. ENG url p. 357, p. 95.
• A history of the birds of Colorado, by William Lutley Sclater London, Witherby and co., 1912. ENG url p. 482, p. 483.
• A list of the birds of New Hampshire. By Glover M. Allen. Manchester, N.H., Nature Study press, 1903. ENG url p. 220.
• Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
• Animal Ecology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1961. ENG url p. 465.
• Annals of the Carnegie Museum. [Pittsburgh]: Published by authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1901- ENG url p. 588.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. ENG url p. 108, p. 122.
• Asteroid notes. Northfield, Minn, Goodsell Observatory of Carleton College, 1934-1950. ENG url p. 86, p. 87, p. 88.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C., USA. 79.
• Bird guide: land birds east of the Rockies from parrots to bluebirds / by Chester A. Reed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1916, c1909. ENG url p. 183.
• Bird-lore. New York, National Association of Audubon Societies. ENG url p. 267.
• BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
• BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
• Birds of America; editor-in-chief, T. Gilbert Pearson; consulting editor, John Burroughs; artists, R.I. Brasher, R. Bruce Horsfall [and] Henry Thurston. New York, The University Society, 1923. ENG url p. 179.
• Birds of New York / by Elon Howard Eaton. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1910-1914. ENG url p. 476, p. 662, p. 713.
• Birds of eastern Canada, by P. A. Taverner. Ottawa, J. de L. Tachprinter, 1919. ENG url p. 207, p. 294.
• Birds of the Northwest: a hand-book of the ornithology of the region drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries / by Elliott Coues. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1874. ENG url p. 9.
• Birds: their photographs and home life / by A. H. Cordier with 145 illustrations from photographs of wild birds, by the author. Philadelphia: Dorrance, c1923. ENG url p. 220.
• Brigham Young University science bulletin. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, [1955-1976] ENG url p. 70.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 185, p. 187, p. 263, p. 269, p. 302, p. 351, p. 357, p. 374, p. 445, p. 454, p. 467, p. 470, p. 71.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) ENG url p. 238.
• Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. Bloomington, Ill.: The Laboratory, ENG url p. 298, p. 407, p. 582, p. 606, p. 606.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, ENG url p. 399, p. 410, p. 526, p. 591, p. 651.
• Bulletin of the scientific laboratories of Denison University. Granville, Ohio: [The University], 1885- ENG url p. 144.
• Cassinia. Philadelphia, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. ENG url p. 15, p. 42, p. 78, p. 80, p. 84, p. 98.
• Catalogue of Canadian birds, by John Macoun and James M. Macoun Ottawa, Government printing bureau, 1909. ENG url p. 694.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. by Charles E. Hellmayr. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1934. ENG url p. 295.
• Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs in the British Museum / By E. W. Oates [and afterwards] by S. G. Reid [and] W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. London, 1901-12. ENG url p. 86, p. 87, p. 88.
• Check-list and bibliography on the occurrence of insects in birds' nests. Ames, Iowa State College Press[1959] ENG url p. 157, p. 158, p. 162, p. 171, p. 179, p. 186, p. 261, p. 489.
• Color key to North American birds, by Frank M. Chapman with upward of 800 drawings by Chester A. Reed, B. S. New York, Doubleday, Page and company, 1903. ENG url p. 233, p. 285.
• Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
• Fauna of New England, 11: list of the aves / by Glover M. Allen. Boston: Society of Natural History, 1909. ENG url p. 206, p. 9.
• Fauna of New England. List of the Araneida. Boston, For Society, 1908. ENG url p. 9.
• Great Basin naturalist memoirs. [Provo, Utah]Brigham Young University, 1976-1992. ENG url p. 221.
• Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande valley, by Florence Merriam Bailey, with thirty-three full-page plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and over six hundred cuts in the Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1904. ENG url p. 438, p. 73.
• Homing with the birds; the history of a lifetime of personal experience with the birds, by Gene Stratton-Porter. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page and Company, 1919. ENG url p. 379.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. ENG url p. 403, p. 459.
• Jahresbericht über das Gebiet der Pflanzenkrankheiten. Berlin: P. Parey, 1907-1917. GER url p. 239.
• Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. Chapel Hill, N.C. [etc.]:Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society [etc.], 1884-2001. ENG url p. 29.
• Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cambridge, Mass.: The Club, 1886- ENG url p. 195, p. 304, p. 350, p. 364.
• Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History. San Diego, Calif.: The Society, 1931- ENG url p. 169, p. 254.
• Michigan bird life: a list of all the bird species known to occur in the State together with an outline of their classification and an account of the life history of each species, with special reference to its relation t by Walter Bradford Barrows. Lansing: Michigan Agricultural College, 1912. ENG url p. 661, p. 818.
• Miscellaneous publication - University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas, 1946-1996. ENG url p. 40, p. 43.
• Naturalist's guide to the Americas, prepared by the Committee on the Preservation of Natural Conditions of the Ecological Society of America, with assistance from numerous organizations and individuals, assembled and edited by chairman, Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1926. ENG url p. 755.
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• Pacific coast avifauna / Cooper Ornithological Club of California. Santa Clara, Calif.: The Club, 1900-1974. ENG url p. 155, p. 193, p. 73, p. 90.
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• Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Indianapolis, Ind.[s.n.] ENG url p. 125, p. 126.
• Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union. Lincoln, [1900-15] ENG url p. 33.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] ENG url p. 159, p. 161, p. 179, p. 182, p. 213, p. 214, p. 421, p. 510, p. 550, p. 562, p. 575, p. 609, p. 611, p. 617, p. 621.
• Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)
• Sand dunes and salt marshes / by Charles Wendell Townsend. Boston: L.C. Page and company, c1925. ENG url p. 310.
• Social feeding behavior of birds. [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1954. ENG url p. 14, p. 32.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, The Ottawa-Field-Naturalists Club. ENG url p. 184, p. 19.
• The Great Basin naturalist. Provo, Utah, M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University. ENG url p. 343, p. 53, p. 605.
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Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/Taxonomicon/]. Access date: Nov 23, 2005
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 4, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 05, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 10 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, and quot;Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds, and quot; in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• The Georgia Museum of Natural History and Georgia Department of Natural Resources

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 05, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Avian Knowledge Network: Project FeederWatch
• Bird Studies Canada: Marsh Monitoring Program - Birds
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 1981-1985
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 2001-2005
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: North West Territories and Nunavut Bird Checklist, Canada
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Bird Collection
• Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates: Bird Collection
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• New Brunswick Museum: NBM birds
• University of Colorado Museum: Zoological specimens
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3848258
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-178629
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13744710
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 178627
• IUCN ID: 51948
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABPBK06010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 11772

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