Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 10.6 in
27 cm - Wingspan
- 13.4 in
34 cm - Weight
- 3 oz
85 g
Other Names
- Moqueur à bec courbe (French)
- Cuitlacoche piquicurvo (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- The Curve-billed Thrasher that lives in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico looks different than the form that lives in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas and central Mexico, and they may be separate species. The Texas and eastern bird has a lighter breast, more contrasting spots, pale wingbars, and white tail corners. The more western form has a grayer breast with less obvious spots, inconspicuous wingbars, and smaller, more grayish tail corners.
Habitat
Scrub
Thorn brush and scrub, semi-desert (especially where mesquite or cholla cactus is present), shrubby areas, open brushy woodland, and around towns .
Food
Insects
Insects, seeds, berries.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 3–5 eggs
- Egg Description
- Light bluish green, heavily spotted with reddish brown.
- Condition at Hatching
- Helpless.
Nest Description
Deep cup of twigs, lined with grasses or other fine materials, placed in a cholla cactus or spiny shrub.
Nest Placement
Shrub
Behavior
Foliage Gleaner
Forages on ground, pokes and probes in plant litter, and digs holes in the soil with its long, down-curved bill.
Conservation
Least Concern
Relatively common. Loss of habitat to urban development and agriculture may be causing declines in some areas.
Credits
- Tweit, R. C. 1996. Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre). In The Birds of North America, No. 235 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.