LeConte's Thrasher

Overview

LeConte's thrasher (Toxostoma lecontei) is a pale, terrestrial bird found in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is a non-migratory species that resides in the same territory annually, blending in with sandy soils in areas with very little vegetation.

Identification

• Size and build: Weighs 55–75 g and measures 24.5–29 cm in length, with short, rounded wings and longer legs adapted for running and digging.
• Plumage: Pale sandy-gray crown, back, and rump; grayish brown wings; off-whitish throat with a darker stripe; puffy gray chest and belly; buffy undertail coverts.
• Features: Black, sickle-shaped bill; nearly black legs; brown-chestnut iris.
• Song: A large, prolonged outpouring of warbled phrases that starts softly and increases in volume, delivered from an exposed perch with clear intervals.

Habitat

Ranges from the San Joaquin Valley in California through southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and central and southern Arizona to northwestern Mexico. Resides in harsh desert climates such as the Sonoran Desert, preferring dunes, alluvial fans, and gently rolling hills with sparse vegetation like saltbush, creosote, cholla cacti, and Mojave yucca.

Diet

Omnivorous diet consisting of arthropods (beetles, scorpions, spiders, grasshoppers, butterflies, moth larvae), small lizards and snakes, eggs, seeds, and berries. Forages on the ground by digging small pits in leaf litter or soil to find prey, and generally obtains necessary water from food in its arid habitat.

Did you know?

These thrashers run at a surprisingly fast pace, capable of outpacing a trotting horse, while generally holding their tail upward to expose their buffy undertail coverts. They also exhibit a unique territorial display where males drop head-first into bushes in slow motion to show off their undertail area to intruders.