Crissal thrasher

The crissal thrasher (Toxostoma crissale) is a large thrasher found in the Southwestern United States (western Texas, southern New Mexico, southern Arizona, southeastern California, extreme southern Nevada, and extreme southwestern Utah) to central Mexico.

Description

The bird grows to 32 cm (12.5 inches), and has a deeply curved bill. The eyes are dull yellow. Bird expert Roger Tory Peterson described its singing as sweeter and less spasmodic than other thrashers. It can be found near desert streams in dense underbrush, mesquite thickets, willows, scrub oak, high elevations in manzanita, and in the low desert near canyon chaparral. The bird seldom flies in the open. The crissal thrasher rarely flies, preferring to walk or run around its territory and will mostly run for cover when disturbed by a potential predator.

History

In the early years of the study of the birds of western North America, this species was confused with the California thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum), to which it is closely related. Descriptions of T. redivivum in John Cassin's 1856 book Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British, and Russian America led later ornithologists to conclude that at least three of the birds described were actually the crissal thrasher. When an army surgeon working in New Mexico sent Cassin specimens of a bird that he believed to be the California thrasher, Cassin sent the specimens to Spencer Baird at the Smithsonian Institution. Baird determined that it was not a California thrasher and published his findings in 1858, identifying the crissal thrasher as a new species.