Bird of the Week: CLXX

Curve-billed Thrasher — Toxostoma curvirostre

• ORDER: Passeriformes
• FAMILY: Mimidae

I call the Curve-billed Thrasher the bully bird of our backyard. With their curved strong beaks, they often intimidate other birds and take over the bird feeder. Once in the feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses his beak to thrash back and forth through the birdseed. Most of it lands on the ground where our quail gladly gather.

Without our bird feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses its beak to endlessly overturn ground in a sweeping motion foraging for insects, spiders and other food. This is similar to how they approach the bird feeder. They also eat the fruits and seeds of saguaro, prickly pear, and cholla.

Curve-billed Thrashers live in the desert Southwest of the United States and Mexico.

Map from All About Birds.

A Curve-billed Thrasher perching on a pink flamingo.

Measurements (both sexes):

Length: 10.6-11.0 in (27-28 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.3 oz (60.8-93.6 g)
Wingspan: 13.4-13.6 in (34-34.5 cm)

They have strong legs, a curved beak, long tail and bright yellow orange eyes. The Curve-billed Thrashers in our Sonoran Desert are gray, but further south in Texas and Mexico they have lighter chests and are often speckled.

Curve-billed Thrashers mate for life and defend their territories that are five to 11 acres of desert land. They build nests in cholla or prickly pear cactus where the spikes protect them.

Call: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Curve-billed_Thrasher/sounds