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Crissal Thrasher

Toxostoma crissaleOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Mockingbirds and Thrashers (Mimidae)

Crissal Thrasher Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Crissal Thrasher: Large thrasher with gray-brown upperparts and unstreaked, gray underparts. Throat is white with dark moustache stripe, eyes are yellow, and bill is long and strongly decurved. Tail is very long with chestnut-brown undertail coverts. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is paler and duller.

Range and Habitat

Crissal Thrasher: Resident from southern Nevada and southeastern California to western Texas and central Mexico. Preferred habitats include in dense, low scrubby vegetation, such as desert and foothill scrub and riparian brush.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chideery", "cheeoo-ree-eep", or a "toit-toit-toit"

Interesting Facts

  • The Crissal Thrasher is the only thrasher that lays unspotted eggs.
  • Their nest is usually built close up under a large branch, making access rather difficult. The location seems to afford protection from both aerial predators and from the direct rays of the sun.
  • It walks and runs around its territory more than it flies. Even when disturbed by a person or a predator it is most likely to run away to cover.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Crissal Thrasher
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Toxostoma crissale
Length10.5 - 12.5 Inches
Wingspan13.5 Inches

Crissal Thrasher

Crissal Thrasher: Large thrasher with gray-brown upperparts and unstreaked, gray underparts. The throat is white with dark moustache stripe, eyes are yellow, and black bill is long and strongly decurved. Tail is very long with chestnut-brown undertail coverts. Legs and feet are black.

● Song: "chideery", "cheeoo-ree-eep", or a "toit-toit-toit"

● Foraging & Feeding: Crissal Thrasher: Eats insects, spiders, seeds, and berries; forages on the ground, tossing leaves and vegetation with its bill.

● Breeding & nesting: Crissal Thrasher: One to four blue green eggs are laid in a nest made of twigs, lined with finer vegetation, and built in the middle of a dense shrub. Eggs are incubated for 14 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Crissal Thrasher: Le Conte's Thrasher is paler, has dark eyes, and only a wash of rust-brown undertail. Curve-billed Thrasher is paler, has faint spots on breast, orange eyes, and only a wash of rust-brown undertail. California Thrasher has dull buff belly and undertail, dark eyes, and is browner overall.

Flight Pattern

Longer flights are swift on rapidly beating wings; shorter flights alternate several quick shallow wing strokes and short glides.
Crissal Thrasher Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Crissal Thrasher: Resident from southern Nevada and southeastern California to western Texas and central Mexico. Preferred habitats include in dense, low scrubby vegetation, such as desert and foothill scrub and riparian brush.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationFairly common
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight2.2 Ounces