Le Conte's Thrasher

Toxostoma lecontei

Le Conte's Thrasher is a bird named for John Lawrence Le Conte, an American entomologist. Though he was a renowed Beetle expert, he discovered this particular bird while on a Beetle-finding trip to Arizona. Le Conte ended up collecting many different birds on his Beetle trips, sending them back to the Smithsonian.

But lets learn more about this bird! The Le Conte's Thrasher is a very pale colored bird found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It lives in very dry, desert areas that have little vegetation. They live in some of the most desolate parts of North America!

Their habitat is so dry that standing water is only present for a few days a year. Luckily these birds are able to get all the water they need from the insects that they eat. Invertebrates are their main prey, but they will eat fruits and seeds as well when they can find them.

These birds are currently listed as being of Least Concern, though they have become rare in some parts of their range. They need a Desert environment to survive, so areas in their former range that have been irrigated and developed are no longer suitable for them.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : North America
Size : Length around 11in (28cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Passeriformes
Family : Mimidae -- Genus : Toxostoma -- Species : T. lecontei
Image :  CPNM