It’s the bird that rounds out the “Big 3” – those three guaranteed Californian birds that happen to have the word “California ” in their names. I’m sure that if a West Coast birder headed to North Carolina , he’d be happy to pick up Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens. But I’m from the East, so I was ecstatic to find Califonia Towhees, California Quails, and this guy – the California Thrasher.
California Thrashers and I have a love-hate relationship. I’d found several by the time James showed up to San Diego, always getting awesome looks, but of birds skulking around the undergrowth, trying to stay out of view. This behavior, not uncommon among the thrashers, doesn’t lend itself to photography – which is, of course, the only way James can count a bird on his life list. James and I were checking out some Brandt’s Cormorants on a nearby cliff-face when this guy popped out on a dead branch.
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| He may have been comfortable hanging out on the edge of 100-ft cliffs, but I sure wasn't! |
It’s by far the best look of a California Thrasher I got while I was in San Diego , not because it was close-up, but because my line of sight was unimpeded by thick briars and chaparral brush. As far as thrashers go, I’ve only seen this one and the common Brown Thrasher we get out East. But the desert Southwest has a fantastic diversity of these secretive curve-billed birds, and I can’t wait til I get out that way again!
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