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could this be a curved bill thresher?

17 years ago

For a few years now I occasionally see a grey bird either on the ground under some bushes or up in the grape vines eating the grapes. It appears all grey, body size of a big sparrow but with a longer tail & a long,thin, slightly curved at the end bill. Could this be a thresher? Couldn't find any photo in my bird books that looked exactly like this bird.

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Comments (10)

chickadeemelrose
17 years ago
Hi,

Is there any chance your bird could be a catbird - all gray (except for black "toupee" on top of head), loves fruit and jellies, long tail often at an angle.

Just a thought -
chickadeemelrose
17 years ago
Hi again,

Just checked the Audubon Field Guide and it seems much more likely that the bird in question is what you think it is (curve billed thrasher), according to its usual range (the Southwest) and its habit of nesting in thick shrubs and foraging for bugs on the ground.

Sorry I was too quick to say - and good luck figuring this out!
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vieja_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you chickeadeemelrose! I'm not even a novice (yet!) at birding but am so interested....! I have the Audubon Field Guide, Stoke's Field Guide,Birds of North America & Birds of New Mexico (I live in Albuquerque) & using them all I get SO confused!

These Thrashers have been in my back yard now for several years but stay rather hidden but I did get a decent photo of one after a snow storm. Right now the greatest numbers are the grackles ... a love/hate relationship with me! They have chased even the starlings & crows away(!) but an occasional robin, sparrow, yellow & red finches & an occasional roadrunner still come visit. Oh, & the mourning doves & hummingbirds seem to be completely unaffected by the grackles. The male grackles are SO funny: they strut towards each other with their heads held way back & wings fluttering & screaming. The females get the dry dog food, go to the birdbaths & dunk it up & down like a donut til it is soft enough to feed her lazy 'teenager' -that is as big as she is- sitting on the birdbath with it's mouth open! They are forever bathing in the birdbaths & in the fish pond (how they know not to sink & drown in the pond water I don't know!). Now I read of their cannibalism on this site so they don't look so cute any more!!
chickadeemelrose
17 years ago
Hi vieja,

I am pretty much new to this too and really find it so much fun, especially reading about others' experiences and opinions about different aspects of birding.

Up here in the Boston area we have the house sparrows to battle with. If you let them they will take over everything, feeders especially. I thought they were lovely innocent little birds until I put my feeders up...and I gradually got the idea, and then read about them on this forum, which confirmed what I was seeing!

I hope you stick with the forum, I have enjoyed it so much and there are really nice, helpful people here, I look forward to checking the posts every day.

Cheers!
User
17 years ago
Curved-bill thrashers are medium-sized birds, larger than a mockingbird. They are greyish, brownish, with bright orange eyes. And they love fruit!

I see them digging holes in the dirt

Here is a link that might be useful:
vieja_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Hmm ... I don't think the bird I see is that big, lazygardens & it's bill appears to be thinner than this picture. Haven't gotten close enough to tell the eye color though yet.
User
17 years ago
Brown Thrasher? The western edge of their range is in NM.

http://www.toddgross.com/photos/uncategorized/brown_thrasher.jpg

Cactus Wren?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactus_Wren Distinctly spotted, if you can get a good enough look at it.
vieja_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Lazygardens: No, it definately is not a wren or a brown thrasher (no breast spotting). The bird I'm seeing is definately gray;I must now try & see the color of the eye though!
vieja_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Lazygardens: YES! Today I saw two of these birds on the ground in the cactus gardens. Usually they are in the grape vines ... fruit still on the vines ... & they DO have an orange eye! So they are curved bill thrashers then? They still appear to be the size of a 'smallish' robin & with a definite thin, curved bill. I have seen a couple of them in our yard for a few years now- both winter & summer.
User
17 years ago
Vieja -
Probably curved-bill thrashers, because it's the only bird with the bill and the behavior you describe.

They don't migrate.

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