Bird guide · Toxostoma curvirostre
Curve-billed Thrasher
What the curve-billed thrasher eats, where it lives, when it comes to feeders and how to recognise it – with sightings from every US state.
- Season
- Year-round resident
- Size
- 11 in (28 cm)
- Eats
- seeds, fruit
- Feeds
- ground
- Most common
- Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
Food
What do curve-billed thrashers eat?
At feeders, curve-billed thrashers take seeds, fruit.
Forages on the ground, digging and flipping litter with its heavy curved bill.
Feeder that suits it
A low tray or platform feeder, or seed scattered on the ground below your feeder.
Range
Where do curve-billed thrashers live?
Southwestern deserts, including suburbs and cities where native plants such as cholla grow. By share of all bird sightings, curve-billed thrashers are most common in Arizona (1.6%).
Season
Does the curve-billed thrasher migrate?
Year-round resident. Across the US it is reported in every month; its share of bird sightings is highest in February.
Share of all bird sightings in the US that are curve-billed thrashers, by month.
Identification
How to identify the curve-billed thrasher
Adults: Dull grey-brown with a curved black bill and yellow-orange eyes.
Young birds: Shorter bill.
Size: 11 in (28 cm)
On camera
Getting the curve-billed thrasher on a feeder camera
Most visits happen on the ground or on low trays. A camera feeder with a wide tray, placed low near cover, catches far more than a hanging tube.
Questions
Curve-billed Thrasher: questions
What do curve-billed thrashers eat?
At feeders, seeds, fruit.
Do curve-billed thrashers migrate?
Year-round resident. Across the US it is reported in every month; its share of bird sightings is highest in February.
Where do curve-billed thrashers live?
By share of all bird sightings, they are most common in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma. They are rare or absent in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware.
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