Brown Thrasher  Toxostoma rufum

Brown Thrasher

Toxostoma rufum

Nine other species of thrashers are limited to the U.S. and Mexico, while the Brown Thrasher reaches into Canada and south to the West Indies.

It has a rich melodious song of double phrases, having the largest song repertoires of any North American bird and breeds in areas of low dense growth, especially edge thickets of deciduous and mixed woods.

Foraging through leaf litter, actively scratching the ground for insects, it also eats small fruits, berries and nuts (especially acorns).

Nesting in low dense shrubs and vine tangles it will produce two to three broods per year, leaving the nest at nine to thirteen days old.  An aggressive defender of its nest, the Brown Thrasher is known to strike people and dogs hard enough to draw blood

Copyright Mark Tiefenbach

Deepbrook Nature Photography

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