
Adult has buffy-white underparts with crisp dusky-brown streaks, sandy-gray upperparts with two narrow white wing bars, long dark tail with white corners, yellow eye, gray face, diffuse pale supercilium, white throat, and relatively short, slender black bill. Immatures are a darker earthy brown above, more streaked on the head, and buffier and more heavily streaked below than adults.
Length: 22 (cm) Wingspan: 30 (cm)
Voice:
Burbling, grating, warbling, drawn-out phrases. Call is a single chuck note.
Habitat:
Sagebrush deserts.
Behavior:
Common to abundant in Great Basin sage expanses. Typically on the ground, along fencelines, or atop sage clumps. Males sing from exposed perches. Nest is a cup of twigs, lined with finer materials, placed in low, dense bush. In flight, often arcs and banks like a shearwater or a gadfly petrel.
Feeding:
Feeds mostly on ground; eats insects and occasional fruit.
Field Notes
To surround, distract, and attempt to drive off a rattlesnake, Sage Thrashers will gather in a group of fluttering, madly leaping birds. Viewed across an expanse of low sagebrush, the spectacle can be noticed at some distance.
Citation: Personal Experience. I observe this occasionally, confident.
Expanded Life History
Feed Ecology And Diet | Contribute Content |
Nesting Habits | Contribute Content |
Migration Status | Contribute Content |
Conservation Status | Contribute Content |
Local Sites to Spot | Contribute Content |
Abundance Status | Contribute Content |
Adult Male Description | Contribute Content |
Adult Female Description | Contribute Content |
ITIS Taxonomic Number | Contribute Content |
Sonogram | Contribute Content |
Courtship | Contribute Content |
Reproductive Characteristics | Contribute Content |
Relationship to Humans | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Size & Shape | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Color & Pattern | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Habitat | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Behavior | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Wingspan | Contribute Content |
ID Tips - Weight | Contribute Content |
Breeding | Contribute Content |
Cool Facts | Contribute Content |
Local Knowledge | Contribute Content |
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Sightings
Date | Submitted By | Count |
---|---|---|
06/29/13 | Dave Irons, OR | # |
06/14/13 | Adrian Hinkle, OR | 1 |
05/05/13 | Nina Bohn | # |
06/19/12 | Brandon Green | 1 |
05/28/12 | Dave Irons, OR | 5 |
05/28/12 | Dave Irons, OR | 1 |
12/26/11 | Joe Blowers, OR | # |
11/15/11 | Shawneen Finnegan, OR | 1 |
11/10/11 | Dave Irons, OR | 1 |
Recent Activity
Activity | Date & Time |
---|---|
David Fix added a note to Sage Thrasher Notes | 7/29/2011 at 6:33PM |