California Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma redivivum

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year- round in chaparral of California and Baja California.

Field Notes: Large, long-tailed songbird. Overall brown with faint white eyebrow and "whiskers". Long, decurved bill. Crissal Thrasher has little overlap, darker and grayer all over, has a black mustache stripe, light eyes, and reddish under the tail. Le Conte's Thrasher is paler sandy gray, with the pale belly contrasting with the wash of rusty under the tail. Curve-billed Thrasher also with little overlapping range, but has spotting on the chest and orange eyes.

Personal Notes: Our last spot at dusk in Big Morongo Preserve outside Joshua Tree National Park.

Crissal Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma crissale

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert washes and riparian thickets of the American Southwest and central Mexico.

Field Notes: Large, all brown perching bird with a thrasher's long tail and prominent down-curved bill. Curve-billed Thrasher quite similar in appearance and overlapping in range, but habitat quite different.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford, AZ.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma curvirostre

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year round in open areas of Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of southwestern US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Large passerine with characteristic long body and tail of a thrasher. Accentuated, long down-curved bill. Brown overall plumage. Orange eye.

Personal Notes: Common site in Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ.

Brown Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma rufum

Population Estimate: 7.3M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in the southern US, east of Texas. Prefers scrub / shrub areas. In winter will extend range north into Canada and west to the Rockies.

Field Notes: Large, brown skulking bird with very long tail. Underparts white with dark streaking / stippling.

Personal Notes: We were thrilled when we learned to identify this bird by song (a mimic with 2-3 repeats) in the spring of 2014. 

Black Catbird

Scientific Name: Melanoptila glabrirostris

Population Estimate: 20K to 50K, Near Threatened status

Range / Habitat: From Yucatan peninsula in Mexico to Belize and Guatemala. Fairly common resident Cozumel Island and Ambergris Caye, Belize. Found in lowland shrub areas.

Field Notes: Secretive bird, all black with blue sheen. Black eye. Smaller bill than other all-black birds in the same distribution. Grey Catbird can overlap in winter but dark grey with black cap, rufous vent and distinctive call.

Personal Notes: The population in Ambergris and Calker Cayes have some white, which we observed on the wing tips of one bird. We subsequently saw this bird on the El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico, where it was delightfully common despite its Near Threatened status. 

Northern Mockingbird

Scientific Name: Mimus polyglottos

Range / Habitat: Year-round in shrub land throughout the United States and Mexico.

Field Notes: Medium-sized grey songbird with long tail, dark wings with white wing bars, and a black eye stripe. Similar overall appearance to both the Loggerhead and Great Grey Shrike, but the shrikes have slightly different ranges and wide black mask instead of an eye stripe. Townsend's Solitaire is also similar but has a more restricted range, is the same shade of grey all over, and has a white eye ring instead of a black eye stripe.

Personal Notes: It was remarkable to watch and listen to this bird with a seemingly endless array of different melodies.

Sage Thrasher

Scientific Name: Oreoscoptes Montanus

Population Estimate: 7.9M

Range / Habitat: Summers throughout the American West, winters in the southwestern US into Mexico. True to it's name, this bird prefers sagebrush (for breeding especially) and other shrubby areas.

Field Notes: Medium-sized, long-tailed songbird. Compared to other thrashers, bill is relatively straight and short while breast is prominently spotted / streaked.

Personal Notes: We love the expression!

Tropical Mockingbird

Scientific Name: Mimus gilvus

Population Estimate: 500K-5M

Range / Habitat: Ranges from southern Mexico to northern Brazil. Also found in the Lesser Antilles and other Caribbean islands. Favors subtropical and tropical dry shrubland and frequently found in open, man-made landscapes.

Field Notes: Typical mockingbird shape and vocalization. Grey back and tail, white throat, neck and belly. Wings black with two white wing bars. Dusky eye stripe, long tail, and a flash of white to each side of the tail as it flies away. Overlaps with similar Northern Mockingbird only at isthmus of Mexico, with the latter showing large white wing patches in flight.

Personal Notes: First seen in Belize then later a common sight in Cancun, Mexico.

Grey Catbird

Scientific Name: Dumetella carolinensis

Population Estimate: 10M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeds in summer in southern Canada through central and eastern United States. Winters on the east coast of the US into Mexico and Central America. Also found in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica. Prefers a shrub habitat near water.

Field Notes: Secretive bird with habitus true to the mockingbird and thrasher family. Plumage slate grey with black eye and bill, black cap, and black tail feathers. Rusty vent. Distinctive cat-like call. Is also a mimic, though does not repeat phrases. Overlaps in winter with Black Catbird in parts of Central America, though readily distinguished.

Personal Notes: Easily identified by it's call, we've had difficulty getting a good photograph of this shy bird. We finally had some better luck at Chaa Creek Resort in Belize then later at Deseret Ranch in Utah.