The brown thrasher is 9-12 inches (22.9-30.5 cm) in length with a wingspan of 11-13 inches (27.9-33 cm).
It is a gangly songbird with long, sturdy legs that hold up its large, slender body.
It has a brown head, back, and wings. Its long, slender tail is also brown and is usually cocked up at an angle. It has brown streaks on its white chest and belly. It has bright yellow eyes and a long, slender black bill.
The brown thrasher is very vocal and has lots of different songs.
In eastern North America, the brown thrasher nests along forest edges, thickets*, and overgrown clearings in hardwood forests.
In the Midwest, it breeds in fencerows, sheltered areas, and woody areas.
*A thicket is a dense group of bushes, shrubs, or small trees that grow very close together.
The brown thrasher eats insects, fruit, seeds, and nuts. It feeds mostly on the ground, sweeping its bill along the ground to gather insects.
It eats a variety of insects, including beetles, cutworms (moth larvae), tent caterpillars, spongy moth caterpillars, leafhoppers, crickets, wasps, and bees.
It eats fruit right off the berry bush and gathers seeds directly from the plant.
The male and female brown thrasher build a cup-shaped nest from twigs, dead leaves, bark, grass, and rootlets. The nest is usually built low in a tree or thorny shrub, such as forsythia, gooseberry, sumac, or multiflora rose.
The female lays 2-6 blue or white eggs. She incubates the eggs for 10-14 days. The male also helps incubate the eggs and feed the young. After hatching, chicks remain in the nest for nearly two weeks before fledging (developing flight feathers). A female may have a second brood in the season.
The brown thrasher has a lifespan of 2-5 years in the wild
The brown thrasher sings a wide variety of songs. Scientists think it can sing more than 1,100 different song types.
It is known to imitate other birds, including wood thrushes, northern flickers, and chuck-will’s-widows.
It’s no surprise that the brown thrasher has so many vocalizations! It is in the Mimidae family, the same bird family as the mockingbird.
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The brown thrasher is found across New Hampshire. It breeds in all of the state, but is less common in northern New Hampshire.
The brown thrasher is found throughout eastern North America.
In the summer, the brown thrasher breeds from south-central Canada to New England, throughout the Midwest, and along the East Coast.
It lives year-round in the southeastern United States.
