LeConte's Thrasher
Toxostoma lecontei

Conservation status | Has disappeared from some areas where irrigation has converted desert to farmland. Still common in appropriate habitat. |
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Family | Mockingbirds and Thrashers |
Habitat | Desert flats with sparse growth of saltbush. Lives in more open habitats than other thrashers, on dry flats with only scattered low shrubs. Found especially in areas of sparse saltbush, also on creosote bush flats in some areas; mainly where there are a few slightly larger mesquites or cholla cactus. |
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Feeding Behavior
Forages almost entirely on the ground, walking and running rapidly on bare open soil. Finds much of its food by digging in the soil with its bill.
Eggs
3-4, sometimes 2. Pale greenish blue, lightly dotted with brown. Incubation is by both parents, about 15 days. Young: Both parents feed nestlings. Young leave nest about 13-17 days after hatching. 2 broods per year, perhaps rarely 3.
Young
Both parents feed nestlings. Young leave nest about 13-17 days after hatching. 2 broods per year, perhaps rarely 3.
Diet
Mostly insects. Diet is not known in detail, but feeds mainly on insects, including grasshoppers, ants, beetles, and many others. Also eats spiders, centipedes, and other arthropods, and sometimes small lizards; eats a few berries and seeds.
Nesting
May mate for life. Pairs remain together at all seasons on permanent territories. In courtship, male may present female with twig or insect. Male sings to defend territory, beginning in mid-winter; nesting may begin in February or even January, but lasts until June in some areas. Nest: Usually placed less than 5' above the ground. Low, dense cholla cactus favored as nest sites; will also nest in saltbush, mesquite, or other low shrubs. Nest (built by both sexes) is a bulky open cup of thorny twigs, lined with rootlets, leaves, plant fibers, sometimes with softer inner lining of plant down.
Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
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Migration
Probably permanent resident, although it has been recorded in some parts of range only in breeding season.

- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
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Learn moreSongs and Calls
Song is a loud, rich melody recalling that of a California Thrasher, but less harsh and with infrequent repetition of phrases. Calls are a rising whit and tu-weep.Learn more about this sound collection.