Bendire’s Thrasher

Late August is not the season to go looking for thrashers, so Darlene and I were more than delighted this morning to run across this fine fellow perched up and singing at Whitewater Draw. Just twenty years ago, Bendire’s Thrasher was thought to be purely a winter resident in the Sulphur Springs Valley, but we now know that they breed there as well; that’s not news to this guy, still busy proclaiming his territory months after the breeding season!

I bet he’ll be even more irresistible to the ladies once that tail molt is completed.