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Help identifying? (1 Viewer)

Girlosaurus

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Hello,
New member here. I keep seeing a bird outside my apartments (in Tucson, Arizona) that looks very much like a Northern Mockingbird in form and figure, except with a longer, pointier beak, and darker coloration overall (with just a titch of white underwing). Any guesses as to what species he is would be much appreciated! Thanks :)
 
Could also be a Bendire's Thrasher, their range includes the Tucson area and would have a straight beak that is longer than a Mockingbird.
Oh, and welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators.
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Thanks for the replies! I know it's not either of those thrashers, I see them all the time around the property as well. He was quite dark, almost a charcoal color. I'll keep an eye out and try to get a picture, I know my descriptions aren't that helpful :p
 
Northern Mockingbird or female Phainopepla would be my guess, but a photo would nail it down.

Could also be a Bendire's Thrasher, their range includes the Tucson area
There are no Bendire's Thrashers in Tucson, Lisa. I've seen people misidentify Curve-billeds as Bendire's but never seen an actual Bendire's in the city.

The nearest ones are probably in the Santa Cruz Flats, although there may still be some in the Avra Valley (no records that I know of for years). They are very much tied to agricultural habitats (e.g. Santa Cruz Flats, Sulphur Springs Valley) or very sparse desert (e.g. the thrasher spot at Buckeye near Phoenix) and are almost never found away from those sites.
 
There are no Bendire's Thrashers in Tucson, Lisa. I've seen people misidentify Curve-billeds as Bendire's but never seen an actual Bendire's in the city.

Richard, I do understand you are more of an expert on birds than I am; however, I said
their range includes the Tucson area
not that I had ever seen one in Tucson. And as I am quite familiar with Curve-billeds (nesting and living on my land for 15 years) I don't think I would mistake a Curve-billed for a Bendire's. Also just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they aren't there.
 
Lisa, I'm not suggesting you don't know how to identify Bendire's Thrasher! o:D I'm merely pointing out that Tucson is not their habitat type and birders should definitely not expect to encounter them here.

OK, let's say it this way: in the nine years I've lived here I've never heard of a single credible record from the Tucson area. Of course, anything can turn up anywhere but you wouldn't expect a Bendire's in Tucson any more than you'd expect shorebirds in the pines on top of Mt Lemmon. The Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas shows the nearest breeding to Tucson to be around Green Valley somewhere and probably what is now the Ironwood National Forest west of Marana.

In my opinion, the hardest part about birding in SE Arizona is learning all the different habitat types and then associating the different species with them. If you're trying to get that worked out, information that you can see Bendire's Thrashers in Tucson could be very misleading.
 
Girlosaurus, sorry to hijack your thread. Seems that Richard is the expert on Tucson habitat, size, etc and what birds will be found in the 195 square mile city limit. So I will bow out. Hope you can post a picture of the bird, would help in the ID.
 
Definitely wasn't a CBT in any case. Looked most like a female great tailed grackle to be honest, but I've never seen them in this area before. Anyway, thanks for the guesses :)
 
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