Thrash the Brown Thrasher in Tootie’s Backyard.
Thrash
the Brown Thrasher
Thrash is a brown thrasher who lives in Tootie’s backyard all year.
As with most backyard birds, Thrash is classified in the Passeriformes order, meaning that he is a passerine, or songbird. He may have more than a thousand song types, including imitations of other birds like thrushes and flickers.
Thrash is a medium-sized bird, only slightly larger than Roy and smaller than Biv and Kevin, but much larger than Tuffy and Ruby. You can identify him by his eyes and feather color. Brown thrashers are one of the few species of common yard birds in the area with yellow eyes. His brown back and wings and the brown spots that cover his white belly may also help you identify Thrash.
Thrash’s Home
Thrash was born in a nest in the honeysuckle shrub in Tootie’s backyard. Both his parents built the cup-shaped nest from twigs, dead leaves, bark, grass, and rootlets.
When Thrash hatched from a pale greenish-blue egg with brown speckles, his eyes were closed, and his pink skin was covered with patches of brown down.
Over time, his eyes opened and the down was replaced with feathers. As a kid, Thrash’s eyes were dark, but, now that he’s an adult, his eyes are yellow like the rest of his family’s.
Once Tootie got too close to Thrash’s family, and his dad pecked Tootie so hard that he bled.
When have you seen Thrash or his family in your yard?
Thrash’s Hobbies
Sometimes, Thrash likes to preen – or groom – on the power line that runs from the street to the house, but his favorite perch is in the dense leaves near the bottom of a bush in Tootie’s backyard, where he sings.
Thrash is really good at hiding in the shrubbery around the yard. When he’s not preening on the power line or singing in the bushes, Thrash forages underneath the shrubs.
Tootie and Yoshi see him every day foraging around underneath the shrubs and near the driveway, but they have to look really hard to find him.
Thrash is related to mockingbirds and catbirds, but he keeps his distance and tends to forage alone.
What activities are the birds in your backyard doing?
Thrash’s Diet
Thrash is an omnivore who likes to eat berries and bugs.
He’s a ground forager, meaning that he finds his food on or in the ground. He uses his bill to move leaf litter and dirt in search of ground bugs like grubs, worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and beetles. When he forages this way, he does so in a jerky movement that looks like a funny thrashing movement, which is where the name thrasher comes from.
Sometimes, he will snatch a dragonfly or wasp from the air for a nice snack. Occasionally, he will eat a small lizard, snake, or tree frog.
He also plucks berries from bushes and trees and forages seeds from the ground to supplement his diet.
What other birds do you see foraging on the ground?
Learn more about Thrash.
Activities
Crossword
Great job! When you see Thrash in your yard, be sure to say hello from a safe distance!