# Brown Thrasher

*Toxostoma rufum*

The Brown Thrasher has one of the largest song repertoires of any North American bird, capable of singing over 1,100 different song types.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Passeriformes › Mimidae › Toxostoma
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Dense thickets, forest edges, and shrubby areas near clearings.
- **Diet:** Omnivorous; primarily eats insects, beetles, and berries, but occasionally small lizards or frogs.
- **Range:** United States, Southern Canada, Northern Mexico
- **Size:** Length: 23-30 cm; Weight: 60-90 g
- **Lifespan:** 10-12 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat fragmentation, collisions with man-made structures, and predation by domestic cats.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and generally shy. Observe from a distance of at least 10 feet to avoid causing stress. If the bird is nesting, do not approach as they can be territorial. They pose no physical threat to humans.

## About

The brown thrasher ( Toxostoma rufum ), sometimes erroneously called the brown thrush or fox-coloured thrush , is a bird in the family Mimidae, which also includes the New World catbirds and mockingbirds. The brown thrasher is abundant throughout the eastern and central United States and southern and central Canada, and it is the only thrasher to live primarily east of the Rockies and central Texas. It is the state bird of Georgia.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/22c0a8e6-6206-4950-ae9b-65302e826b2f
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/14898
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxostoma rufum
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/186561540/medium.jpeg (Chrissy McClarren and Andy Reago, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.