Brown Thrasher Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Brown Thrashers are fairly large, slender songbirds with long proportions—the legs are long and sturdy, and the bill is long and slightly downcurved. The tail is long, too, and often cocked upward in the manner of wrens.

  Relative Size

  Slightly smaller than a Blue Jay; slightly larger than a Northern Mockingbird.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 9.1-11.8 in (23-30 cm)
    • Weight: 2.1-3.1 oz (61-89 g)
    • Wingspan: 11.4-12.6 in (29-32 cm)

  © Nathan Dubrow / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Brown Thrashers are foxy brown birds with heavy, dark streaking on their whitish underparts. The face is gray-brown and the wings show two black-and-white wingbars. They have bright-yellow eyes.

• Behavior

  Brown Thrashers skulk in shrubby tangles or forage on the ground below dense cover. They’re most obvious when they sing their loud songs from shrubs and treetops. The song is a complex string of many musical phrases (many copied from other birds’ songs, with each phrase typically sung twice before moving on). They also make a distinctive, harsh tsuck note.
• Habitat

  Scrubby fields, dense regenerating woods, and forest edges are the primary habitats of Brown Thrashers. They rarely venture far from thick undergrowth into which they can easily retreat.