• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Bendire's Thrasher - BirdForum Opus

Photo by NNJFB-Rob
Maricopa County, Arizona, November 2014
Toxostoma bendirei

Identification

9-10 ins (23-25cm)

  • Grey-brown
  • Indistinct dark spots on breast
  • Long dark tail with pale tip
  • Short, slightly decurved bill with indistinct yellow base
  • Yellow eye
  • Dark legs

Sexes similar

Distribution

Southeastern California, southern Nevada, throughout Arizona, western New Mexico and northwest Mexico.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

This is a polytipic species consisting of three subspecies[1]:

  • T. b. bendirei:
  • Arid south-western US to north-western Mexico (northern Sonora)
  • T. b. candidum:
  • Sonoran Desert of western Mexico (western Sonora)
  • T. b. rubricatum:
  • Central and southern interior of south-eastern Sonora and coast near Isla Tiburón

Habitat

Areas of arid scrub thickets.

Behaviour

Breeding

It builds a cup-shaped nest from twigs, lined with grass stems and rootlets, placed in a cactus or an otherwise thorny desert shrub or tree. The 3-4 eggs are pale green to blue, speckled with brown and purple.

Diet

The diet includes small ground-dwelling insects.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. USGS
  3. Wikipedia

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

Back
Top