Howdy, friends.  This week’s bird gives me particular joy, because thrashing is my and Mrs K’s slang for any kind of personal disturbance or freak out, most often expressed as an admonition from one of us to the other to “stop thrashing.”  Herewith, LeConte’s thrasher.  

This itty-bitty bird lives in the Southwestern US and parts of northern Mexico, including Arizona, Nevada, and California, as well as the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur and Sonora.  It is almost exclusively terrestrial, only flying when building a nest or collecting food for its young.  It also does not migrate, and is a year-round occupant of the very harsh biome it prefers.  It lives in some of the inhospitable desert on the continent, including the Sonoran Desert and the San Juaquin Valley as well as Death Valley.  Rainfall in the first two locations averages between 4-20 cm annually (1.5 to just under 8 inches).  Average annual rainfall in Death Valley is even lower, usually less than 5 cm (2 in).  Air temperature in this valley can be as high as 57 C (134 F) and temperature on the desert floor can reach 90 C (194 F).  Several weeks can go by without the temperature dipping below 35 C/95 F. The bird is well-adapted to these incredibly adverse conditions.  Its plumage blends into the landscape, and it gets all the water it needs from eating food.  It has been observed by researchers drinking water one (1) time, according to my research. The thrasher eats both critters and plants, its diet consisting of the usual suspects: seeds, berries, arthropods like beetles, scorpions and spiders, as well as lizards and snakes.  It will occasionally eat eggs, including those of its own species.  This seems like a dick move, but I’m not here to tell this veritable extremophile how to go about its business.   LeConte’s thrasher competes with for resources with several local birds, including most notably the greater roadrunner, which we covered some time ago and which came up again in our recent discussion of burrowing owls.  (H/T Lemon of Troy).  When threatened, the bird will scamper away, and it is apparently quite quick on its feet.  

Due to the nature of its habitat, characterized as it is by shrubs and low trees (I swear we just learned a word for a tree that grows as a shrub if that’s all the biome will support) the nests that LeConte’s thrasher builds are typically low to the ground, averaging around a meter off the ground.  It will build nests in higher places should the opportunity present itself, including on abandoned vehicles, which seems ominous given the places it tends to live.  Both members of a breeding pair will work to build the nest, although “participation of the male varies.”  No word on what he is off doing as of press time.  Once the eggs are laid the male will work to feed the female.  The birds will take turns brooding over the eggs, with the female more likely to draw the night shift.  Eggs will be incubated for up to 20 days, and the young will be fed by the parents for 15-18 days more.  Thirty days after hatching, the young will disperse and may form a small group with other young thrashers.  The male and female members of the breeding pair are monogamous, and will continue to return to their nesting site every breeding season until one of them dies.  The birds are not often victims of parasitism, where another species will lay eggs in the thrasher’s nest, although it has been observed.  

Because of its fairly large and exceedingly inhospitable range, the LeConte’s thrasher is rated as “of least concern” by the IUCN.  Nevertheless, it has lost some population and habitat to human activity, and it has been suggested that it is negatively impacted by military activity that takes place in some of its range, although the issue has not been formally studied.  

Have a good weekend, everyone, and be sure to take some time for yourself. You’re the only you we’ve got.

Links: https://tinyurl.com/4b8ytetu, https://tinyurl.com/2ee99zhe, https://tinyurl.com/3fcjb4pn, https://tinyurl.com/3bfwzjaj,  https://tinyurl.com/yh7cxzhc