FW: Washington County Thrashers

["Rick Fridell" <rfridell at burgoyne dot com>]

Hello Everyone,
The singing Thrasher along the Virgin River in Washington (reported by the
Warrens) is likely a Crissal Thrasher. These are the thrashers most often
seen in low desert areas of Washington County. Crissal Thrashers are
relatively common in dense desert and riparian scrub around St. George,
particularly along the Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers.  They are very elusive
and hard to see well most of the year, but fortunately they often perch up
and sing in late winter and early spring (and occasionally at other times of
the year).  Le Conte's Thrashers are extremely rare in Utah and inhabit
barren desert areas with sparse vegetation.  There are no recent documented
records in the state, and if they are to be found it likely will be on the
Beaver Dam Slope in the extreme Southwest corner of Washington County.
California Thrashers are similar to the other two in appearance as well
(large brown/gray thrashers with long curved bills and long tails), but have
never been documented in Utah (and are almost never found outside of their
restricted geographic range in California).
Other thrashers in the county include the Northern Mockingbird, Sage
Thrasher (which will soon be migrating through the county on their way
north), Bendire's Thrasher (very rare summer resident), and occasionally a
wayward Brown Thrasher from the eastern U.S. is spotted.

Best Regards,

Rick Fridell
Hurricane, UT

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-redcliffs@utahbirds.org
[mailto:owner-redcliffs@utahbirds.org]On Behalf Of G and J Warren
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 1:26 PM
To: redcliffs@utahbirds.org
Subject: mystery thrasher


Hi,
We've had 2 sightings along the Virgin River of what we
thought was LeConte's Thrasher. We've enjoyed beautiful
serenades both times, but didn't have binoculars along to
identify for sure. If anyone is interested in coming to see
the bird for a positive ID, it has been hanging out in our
senior community, Rio Virgin Estates, 2990 E. Riverside Dr.
(down the hill from Costco) in front yards and in trees
along the river.
Judy and Gordon Warren
627-0807

=====
Gordon and Judy Warren: gjwarren645@yahoo.com
Deer Park phone: 509-276-7012; St. George phone: 435-627-0807
Our address is: 101 W. 8th St., PO Box 562, Deer Park, WA. 99006 USA
from May 2004 to late Sept. 2004
or 2990 E. Riverside Dr., #259, St. George, UT 84790 from Oct. 2004 to
April, 2005.
Our website is:  www.geocities.com/gjwarren645/ourpage.html

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