Adult. Photo: Andrew Reding/Flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0)
Myadestes townsendi
| Conservation status | Seldom parasitized by cowbirds, and faces no other obvious threats. Current numbers seem stable. |
|---|---|
| Family | Thrushes |
| Habitat | Conifer forests in mountains, rocky cliffs; in winter, chaparral, pinyon-juniper, open woods, wooded streams. Breeds mostly in open conifer forest in mountains, where exposed rocky slopes or dirt banks provide nesting sites; in far north, may be in burned areas or open scrub habitat near such banks. In winter, inhabits semi-open woods and brush, especially around junipers. |
Does much foraging by watching from a perch, then flying out to catch insects in mid-air or fluttering down to catch them on the ground. Also may hover momentarily while plucking insects or berries among foliage.
4, sometimes 3-5, rarely 6. Whitish to pale blue, blotched with pale gray, overlaid with darker brown spots. Details of incubation not well known; incubation period about 11 days. Young: Both parents feed nestlings. Young probably leave the nest about 2 weeks after hatching.
Both parents feed nestlings. Young probably leave the nest about 2 weeks after hatching.
Mostly insects and berries. Feeds on many insects, especially in summer, including caterpillars, beetles, ants, true bugs, and others, also spiders and other invertebrates. In winter, majority of diet may be berries and small fruits, including those of juniper, mistletoe, hackberry, and others.
Male defends territory by singing, often from a high perch; sometimes sings in flight. Nest: Usually on ground in shallow depression in dirt bank or road cut, in crevice in cliff, under a log or stump, or among upturned roots, placed in a protected spot with some overhanging shelter. Sometimes in hollow in dead snag a few feet above ground. Nest is a bulky and loosely made open cup of twigs, grass, pine needles, bark strips, lined with finer grass.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
In response to growing calls, the American Ornithological Society recently renamed the bird the Thick-billed Longspur. That's not enough for critics.
They might be one of our most common birds, but there is plenty you don't know about this thrush. (Yep, it's a thrush.)
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