Brown Thrasher

Brown Thrasher
Brown Thrashers may be confused with thrushes but are larger, have longer tails and are streaked (not spotted) below. They belong to the same family as the Mockingbird but, unlike that species, are retiring and secretive. The Brown Thrasher is rufous-brown above, white below with dark brown streaks. It has a curved bill, long tail and a yellow eye. The song of the Brown Thrasher is a variety of musical phrases, each repeated twice and its call is a sharp smack!

The Brown Thrasher gleans food from the ground or in shrubs. In the spring, it eats almost entirely insects, spiders and worms. In summer and fall, it eats mostly fruits, mast (mainly acorns) and waste corn. It builds a bulky nest in any of a variety of shrubs (usually thorny) or low trees, up to 14 feet from the ground, but sometimes on the ground under a small shrub.

The Brown Thrasher breeds from southeastern Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and northern New England south to Gulf Coast and Florida. It winters in the southern part of its breeding range. It prefers thickets, fields with scrub and woodland borders.
Brown Thrasher Range Map