Friday, March 01, 2013

A thrilling bird concert

Curve-billed Thrashers and Northern Mockingbirds are two of my favorite birds. They are actually closely related—both members of the bird family Mimidae. Their bodies are nearly identical, but the slightly-smaller mockingbird is grey, white, and black, while the thrasher is mostly grayish brown. Mockingbirds have yellow eyes and a short straight beak, while the thrasher’s eyes are orange and its bill  long and distinctly curved. Both birds eat insects, seeds, and berries, though the thrasher is more of a desert dweller than the mockingbird, which is often found in urban environments.

Mockers new backyard 007          CU curve-billed thrasher 11-12-2012 12-22-40 PM 497x855

Mockingbird                                    Curve-billed thrasher (Sue Feyrer)

Both birds excel at singing. Nearly everyone has heard the beautiful, ever-changing trills of a mockingbird in the spring, but not everyone knows that thrashers can sing nearly as well. The thrasher’s ordinary call is a piercing upside-down wolf whistle (whit-WHEET!), but their song is beautiful and very melodious.

This morning at Tohono Chul Park I heard beautiful birdsong on one of the desert trails. As I approached, a mockingbird flew into a tree above me, but it was not singing. I followed its gaze to see this beautiful thrasher singing its heart out.

Curve-billed thrasher singing on a saguaro

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE mockingbirds (have since I was a tot). We have some crazy-ass singers here -- just vocally all over the place. But that thrasher is stiff competition!

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    1. Mockingbirds are among my three favorite birds (I'll let you guess the other two). But those thrashers knock my socks off. I'll try to get a video someday of the "wolf-whistle" call. It's quite amazing.

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  2. Sweet! (Or should I say, "swit-SWEET"?)
    I love the mimidae too! I adore hearing the mockers sing!!!

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  3. I miss hearing mockers sing. They were always around at my old place, but I hardly ever see (or hear) them here. Luckily, we have them in the Park.

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