#mimids

Sure, it's been a while since we did them!

Photo: Tony Morris

"As pale as desert sand is this wraith of the arid saltbush flats. It seldom flies unless closely pressed, instead running about with great speed on the open ground, its tail cocked up above its back. For many years after its discovery, Le Conte's Thrasher was considered a rare bird, because it lives in desert so barren and forbidding that few people would have thought to seek birds there."

California Thrasher Toxostoma redivivum

Phainopepla nitens | Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus | Oroscoptes montanus | Harporhynchus crissalis

How many songs do you know by heart? Whatever the number, it probably isn't as many as the brown thasher! This little bird has at least 1,100 songs in its repotoire, with some studies indicating the number might be well over 3,000. Many of these calls are mimics of other species, which males use to impress and woo females of their own kind.

(Image: A brown thrasher () by Burline Pullin)

Photo: Manuel Guadalupe Joya Cohuo

"Slender-billed, glossy black bird of humid forest, woodland, thickets, and overgrown clearings; shape and habits like Gray Catbird of North America. Common on Cozumel Island, but generally uncommon to rare on the Yucatan mainland. Often sings from a prominent perch, but otherwise rather retiring and easily overlooked, mainly at low levels in bushes; also hops on the ground, flipping and fanning its tail."

Photo: Brian Stahls

"The big, foxy-red Brown Thrasher is a familiar bird over much of the east. Sometimes it forages boldly on open lawns; more often it scoots into dense cover at any disturbance, hiding among the briar tangles and making loud crackling callnotes. Although the species spends most of its time close to the ground, the male Brown Thrasher sometimes will deliver its rich, melodious song of doubled phrases from the top of a tall tree."

Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottus