Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Bendire's Thrasher
Scientific name:	[Taxostoma bendirei]
Date:	3/28/25
Time:	9:10 am
Length of time observed:	1 second
Number:	1
Age:
Sex:
Location:	Beaver Dam Slope, off Lytle Ranch Rd about 6 miles in from hwy. About 75 yards
County:
Latilong:
Elevation:	~3000 ft
Distance to bird:	10-12 yards
Optical equipment:	Swarovski 42x8.5
Weather:	mid-50s, overcast, a bit breezy at times
Light Conditions:
Description: Size of bird:	Comparable to Robin or Mockingbird
(Description:) Basic Shape:	Long structure, not compact; long tail
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Warm sandy-brown above and below, no outstanding field marks
(Description:) Bill Type:	not observed definitively
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Warm sandy-brown above (including wings) and below. No outstanding field marks in low-to-ground flight. I noticed no significant contrast between upperparts and underparts, and no obvious spotting below as in Sage Thrasher, tho my view of underparts was limited because the bird flushed so low to the ground. In flight I looked specifically for obvious white tail tips as in Sage Thrasher and saw none; I would have seen them because my view was so close and from above the low-flying bird. No white flashes in the wings as in Mockingbird.
Song or call & method of delivery:	None
Behavior:	Flushed from ground about 10-12 yards in front of me, crossed from one side of the wash to the other in a single strong, undulated swoop barely clearing the ground. Immediately disappeared into the brush along the wash.
Habitat:	On the ground at the side of a pebble-and-sand-bottomed wash lined sporadically by a sage-like bush -- the greenest and most thick/dense vegetation in the vicinity. (Someone suggested it is desert almond but I am not so certain.) The vicinity has scattered Joshua Tree and other dead-looking sage-types. It was the GRASSY area (however sparse) on mostly open ground on the knoll beyond the wash that drew me to choose this spot to search. The slope at this spot was comparatively and fairly gentle.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	N Mockingbird: No white flashes in the wing in flight, which I would have seen well; the warm-brown color, not gray. The bird struck me as larger than Mockingbird. Sage Thrasher: No obvious white tail tips, which I would have seen well; the overall warm-brown color, not cold(er) gray-brown; the lack of obvious spotting below (tho my view of underparts was limited to the sides). The bird struck me as larger than Sage Thrasher, tho that could have been partly due to its sudden appearance at such close range.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	Bendire s Thrasher: One sighting in SE AZ in January 1997. N Mockingbird: Many sightings and observations. Sage Thrasher: 3 sightings over 7 weeks prior, all prolonged observations and of such quality to see the white tail tips; the sighting two weeks prior was at very close range. I ve seen 1-2 the previous 2-3 years.
References consulted:	Sibley's and National Geo field guides
Description from:	Notes made later
Observer:	Paul Hicks
Observer's address:	1630 E 2450 So #26, St George 84790
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	None
Date prepared:	3/31/25
Additional material:	Photos of habitat at the spot
Additional comments:	I am submitting this report specifically at the request of eBird monitor Colby Neuman -- but I don t expect this report to be accepted without the requisite photo documentation. This was my first chance to give chase after McKay Olson s recent sighting of 3/9/25. I knew from his pin and from consulting with him both the general vicinity and the grassy habitat to check. This, my first stop of several, was about 6 miles from the highway, 0.4 miles past BLM campsite #26, where I saw open ground and sparse grass fairly close, up on a knoll beyond a shallow wash that was 75 yards upslope from the roadway. (I counted the paces and placed a marker at the shoulder and notified our local chaser text group.) I was walking the wash to gain a better access point to the more elevated spot when this bird flushed practically right in front of me as I rounded a bend. I have pics of the habitat/vicinity. (Over the next several miles along Lytle Ranch Rd I selectively walked into areas with open ground and sparse grass, covering easily 3.5 miles on foot, and in the process encountered a second Bendire s Thrasher.) Expert birder Paul Jaussi followed my roadside marker and found only mockingbird and Sage Thrasher at this location, around 5-6pm.