From Opus

Toxostoma bendirei

Photo by bobsofpa
Organ Pipe Cactus National Memorial, Arizona, USA, May 2005

[edit] Identification

23-28cm

• Grey-brown
• Indistinct dark spots on breast
• Long dark tail with pale tip
• Short, slightly decurved bill with indistinct yellow base
• Yellow eye
• Dark legs
  

Sexes similar

[edit] Distribution

Southeastern California, southern Nevada, throughout Arizona, western New Mexico and northwest Mexico.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

Polytypic. Consists of three subspecies:

• T. b. bendirei:

• Arid south-western US to north-western Mexico (northern Sonora)

• T. b. candidum:

• Sonoran Desert of western Mexico (western Sonora)

• T. b. rubricatum:

• Central and southern interior of south-eastern Sonora and coast near Isla Tiburón

[edit] Habitat

Areas of arid scrub thickets.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

It builds a cup-shaped nest from twigs, lined with grass stems and rootlets, placed in a cactus or an otherwise thorny desert shrub or tree. The 3-4 eggs are pale green to blue, speckled with brown and purple.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes small ground-dwelling insects.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. USGS
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links