Brown Thrasher

Description:

Brown Thrashers are fairly large, slender songbirds with long proportions—the legs are long and sturdy, and the bill is long and slightly downcurved. The tail is long, too, and often cocked upward in the manner of wrens. Brown Thrashers are foxy brown birds with heavy, dark streaking on their whitish underparts. The face is gray-brown and the wings show two black-and-white wingbars. They have bright-yellow eyes.

Habitat:

In the reeds by the river along the path. LISDOLA (Lewisville Independent School District Outdoor Learning Area) is an eighty-acre tract of land located on the south side of Lake Lewisville Dam in Denton County. The landscape boasts wetlands, forests, fields, rivers and streams and contains approximately five miles of hiking trails. The outdoor learning area was created in the fall of 1999 when the school district erected two portable classrooms.

Notes:

It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden. Brown Thrashers wear a somewhat severe expression thanks to their heavy, slightly downcurved bill and staring yellow eyes, and they are the only thrasher species east of Texas. Brown Thrashers are exuberant singers, with one of the largest repertoires of any North American songbird.