The Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) is a bird that resides up here during the summer, but one that I seldom see. It enjoys eating insects that it finds in leaf litter under dense, low growing shrubs. It will also eat fruits and seeds.

Due the presence of Black Bears (Ursus americanus), I normally don’t have bird feeders out while the thrashers are around, while the bears are active. I do have lots of blueberry bushes though, which brings the thrashers into areas where I know I can find interesting birds.

Brown Thrashers are in the family, Mimidae, which is a group of birds that are recognized for their vocalizations, and their capacity to imitate many birds and other noises that they hear as they go about their lives. The Brown Thrasher is indeed an excellent songster and can repeat as many as 2,000 different songs. As it sings, it repeats each song twice, a tip for me, to its identity.

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