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Georgia State Bird
Brown Thrasher
- Official Georgia State Bird Name: Brown Thrasher
- Family: Mimidae, Mockingbirds, Thrashers
- Scientific name: Toxostoma rufum
- Length: 11.5" (29 cm)
- Diet: Omnivore; insects, invertebrates, small vertebrates;
berries, fruits, nuts
- Voice:
Listen to Brown Thrasher Song
(recorded by Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Song of rich, musical phrases, each repeated 2 or 3
times with pause between each set; no other species has such clearly
paired rhythm; often gives partial phrases such as whichoo-which.
Calls include a loud, sharp chak like Fox Sparrow; a low
toneless growl chhr; a sharp tsssuk; a rich, low
whistle peeooori or breeew.
- Habitat: Common in hedgerows, brush, woodland
edges, thickets, shrubbery, thorn scrub; often close to human
habitation
- Displays: Courtship: male song elicits female
response of picking up twig and hopping to male, fluttering wings
vigorously and chirping; male may pick up dead leaves and hop to
female.
- Number of broods: 2, rarely 3
- Nest: On ground mostly in east, also in vines or
small tree (2-5' above ground); made of twigs, dead leaves, grass,
usually lined with grass, rootlets.
- Eggs: Averages 4-5 pale bluish-white eggs,
occasionally greenish, spotted with reddish-brown. 1.0" (26 mm).
- Incubation period: 11-14 days
- Fledge: 9-13 days after hatching
- Longevity Record: 12 Years and 10 months (according to USGS
Bird Banding Lab)
On April 6, 1935, the Brown Thrasher was first chosen
as the Georgia state bird by official proclamation of the Governor. In 1970, at
the request of the Garden Clubs of Georgia, it was designated by the Legislature
as the official state bird. The Brown Thrasher is commonly found in the eastern
section of the United States, ranging north to Canada and west to the Rockies.
The bird migrates to the North in the summer and spends its winters in the
Southern states.
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