Sage Thrasher Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Sage Thrashers are fairly small songbirds with relatively long legs and tail. They are the smallest of the thrashers. The bill is much shorter and straighter than the bills of other thrashers. When perched, Sage Thrashers often stand erect with their wings slightly drooped, like a thrush.

  Relative Size

  Larger but more slender than a Western Bluebird; slightly smaller than a Northern Mockingbird.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 7.9-9.1 in (20-23 cm)
    • Weight: 1.4-1.8 oz (40-50 g)
    • Wingspan: 12.6 in (32 cm)

  © Matt Davis / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Sage Thrashers are drab gray above with spotted underparts. Black spotting on the breast turns to fine streaks along cinnamon-tinged flanks. In summer, these streaks can become less distinct from feather wear. Tips of the outer tail feathers are white, there are two whitish wingbars, and the eye is yellow.

• Behavior

  The often shy Sage Thrasher runs stealthily through the brush, along corridors of bare ground. During spring and summer, singing males perch prominently atop the tallest shrubs. When alarmed, Sage Thrashers flick their tail upward repeatedly.
• Habitat

  Look for Sage Thrashers in expanses of dense sagebrush with scattered bunchgrasses and bare ground. During migration and winter, they occupy a broader rage of open, arid habitats, such as grasslands with scattered shrubs and open pinyon-juniper woodlands.