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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Brown Thrasher, imitates other birds songs, repeating phrases twice!



We don't get many Brown Thrashers here in SW NH, so it's always a treat when one shows up. This one arrived yesterday and foraged under our bird feeder. Brown Thrashers have the most extensive breeding range of all the thrashers and breed throughout much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. and on into southern Canada. Most of the other thrashers (Long-billed, Bendire's, Curve-billed, California, Crissel, LeConte's, Sage) have breeding ranges that mainly occur in the western half of the country). Brown Thrashers habitat is thickets, shrubs and woodland edges. Thrashers belong to the family Mimidae (including Gray Catbird and Northern Mockingbird) who are know for imitating other birds' songs. The Brown Thrasher sings a long series of musical phrases and harsh notes repeated in pairs, usually containing imitations of other birds. Tell it from a Gray Catbird who usually repeats phrases once and a Northern Mockingbirds who usually repeats phrases three or more times. Fun!
To learn birds' songs get our best-selling Stokes Field Guide to Bird Song CDs, Eastern and Western Region available on amazon.com

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