From Opus

Toxostoma rufum

Photographed by KC Foggin
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, June 2004

[edit] Identification

23.5-30.5 cm (9.25-12 ins)

• Brown or reddish-brown above
• White breast
• Throat streaked with brown
• Two white wing bars
• Long tail
• Relatively large and curved bill

[edit] Distribution

Juvenile
Photo by gkrpepper
Jacksonville, North Carolina, Summer 2007

Breeds in the United States and Canada (east of the Rocky Mountains).

A partial migrant.

Has once been recorded as a vagrant in the British Isles.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a polytypic species, consisting of two subspecies:

• T. r. rufum:

• South-eastern Canada to Gulf States (mainly east of Rocky Mountains)

• T. r. longicauda:

• South-central Canada to eastern Colorado and Kansas; winters to south-eastern US

[edit] Habitat

Suburban woodland with decidiuous trees, thickets, brush, garden shrubbery.

[edit] Behaviour

A very shy and secretive bird.

[edit] Diet

Mainly an omnivorous ground feeder, it turns over leaves looking for seeds, insects, snails and worms, it will also eat berries, nuts and occasionally lizards.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: A sharp lip-smacking type sound.
Song: a double-phrase territorial song, delivered from the top of a tree in the breeding season.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Absolute Astronomy
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links