Toxostoma bendirei

Description:

Bendire's Thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei) is a secretive breeder around the middle-elevation grasslands of central Arizona. They like to hang out with their family members, the Mockers. This sample is a small part of the song of one individual near Cornville, Arizona, in the Verde Valley, 6/5/99. He was "marking" his territory by singing at one post, usually high in a mesquite or Berberis bush, occasionally on a power line, then diving down and skimming the ground, quickly flying to the next post, maybe 2-400 meters away and starting again.