Sage Thrasher

Overview

Sage Thrasher: Small thrasher, gray upperparts, dark-streaked white underparts with pale brown wash. The head is gray, bill is short and slightly decurved. Wings are dark with thin,white bars. Tail is dark with white corners. Legs and feet are black. Fast flight on shallow wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Sage Thrasher: Breeds in the western U.S. from eastern Washington and Oregon, across southern Idaho and Montana south through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada to northern Arizona and New Mexico. Winters in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as northern Mexico, including Baja California. Prefers dry sagebrush plains and arid areas such as the floors of rocky canyons.

INTERESTING FACTS

A bird of the sagebrush, the Sage Thrasher is the smallest of the thrashers.
It is elusive when disturbed, frequently running on the ground rather than taking flight.
Some genetic studies suggest that they are more closely related to mockingbirds than true thrashers.

The Sage Thrasher has a large range, estimated globally at 1,800,000 square kilometers. Native to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, this bird prefers temperate, subtropical, or tropical shrubland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 7,900,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Sage Thrasher is Least Concern.