Description
The Brown Thrasher is bright reddish-brown above with thin, dark streaks on its buffy underparts. It has a whitish-colored chest with distinguished teardrop-shaped markings on its chest. Its long, rufous tail is rounded with paler corners, and eyes are a brilliant yellow. Its bill is brownish, long, and curves downward. Both male and females are similar in appearance. The juvenile appearance of the Brown Thrasher from the adult is not remarkably different, except for plumage texture, indiscreet upper part markings, and the irises having an olive color.
Adults measure around 23.5 to 30.5 cm (9.3 to 12.0 in) long with a wingspan of 29 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in), and weigh 61 to 89 g (2.2 to 3.1 oz), with an average of 68 g (2.4 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 9.5 to 11.5 cm (3.7 to 4.5 in), the tail is 10.9 to 14.1 cm (4.3 to 5.6 in), the culmen is 2.2 to 2.9 cm (0.87 to 1.1 in) and the tarsus is 3.2 to 3.6 cm (1.3 to 1.4 in). There are two subspecies: the 'Brown Thrasher' (T. rufum rufum), which lies in the eastern half of Canada and the United States, and the 'Western Brown Thrasher' (T. rufum longicauda), which resides in the central United States east of the Rocky Mountains and southern central Canada. The Western Brown Thrasher is distinguished by a more cinnamon upper part and whiter wing bars than T.rufum rufum.
The lifespan of the Brown Thrasher depends on a year-to-year basis, as the rate of survival the first year is 35%, 50% in between the second and third year, and 75% between the third and fourth year. Disease and exposure to cold weather are among contributing factors for the limits of the lifespan. However, the longest lived Thrasher in the wild is 12 years, and relatively the same for ones in captivity.
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