East of the Rocky Mountains lives a slightly more reclusive, but charismatic and vocal songbird, the brown thrasher. These reddish-brown birds aren’t just nice to look at—they’re talented mimics, singing over a thousand different song variations. Plus, they’re pros at keeping garden pests in check, munching on insects, snails, and even the occasional lizard. Attracting brown thrashers to your yard means getting a front-row seat to their energetic foraging, dramatic tail flicks, and nonstop singing. If that sounds like a bird you want to attract, stick around and let’s talk about what you can do to make your yard more attractive to brown thrashers.
About the Brown Thrasher
First let’s talk about some important things to know about these birds if you want to attract them. Brown thrashers live across the eastern half of the United States. They can be found year-round in the southeast from Florida to Tennessee, but beyond that you’ll only see them in the spring and summer months when they move north to breed.
Brown thrashers are large birds with slim bodies and long tails. Their length measures up to 11.8 inches, about the size of an American Robin. Despite the larger size, they can be hard to spot because they love to stay hidden in dense vegetation. Their favorite places are forest edges, hedgerows, thickets, and dense shrubs. They eat mostly insects, and you may hear them in the bushes as they dig around, tossing leaves and sticks aside looking for a meal.
You can also tell they are hanging around by listening for their song. Brown thrashers are part of the mimicking family of birds, like northern mockingbirds and gray catbirds. In the spring males sing a long string of pieced together phrases copied from other birds or sounds in the environment. Usually they repeat a phrase two times before moving to the next, so listen for a song where each little melody is repeated twice in a row.
How To Attract Brown Thrashers
1. Provide Dense Shrubbery
Because of their love of dense foliage, a large, open yard is much less likely to attract them. Find ways to add some sheltered, bushy areas to your landscaping. Planting shrub/hedge boarders on your property line, or find areas around the house and yard to add clusters of larger shrubs. If your house backs up against a wooded area or a fence, encouraging shrub growth along the edges.
2. Leave the Leaves
Brown Thrashers forage on the ground for ants, grubs, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers and all sorts of other insects. Allowing areas of leaf litter to accumulate under shrubs and trees can provide a rich foraging ground, attracting thrashers to your yard. They’ll use their head and beak to toss aside the leaves, hunting for the insects that live underneath.
3. Maintain A Water Source
Thrashers need water and are known to visit bird baths for bathing and drinking, especially during the heat of the summer. A reliable water source will go a long way to attract them! Due to their size, you’ll need a larger basin, at least 12 inches in diameter, and no more than 2 inches deep. Ensure the water is clean and refreshed regularly to keep it appealing. Adding a feature like a water wiggler, bubbler or solar fountain to create movement and the sound of running water can also help to attract more birds.
4. Plant Native Fruiting Shrubs & Bushes
Brown Thrashers also include fruits in their diet, especially towards late summer. Having some native bushes or shrubs that produce berries is both an attractive food source and adds a bit more of that foliage that they like to hide in. Some of the berries they are known to eat include huckleberry, holly, sumac, grape, elderberry, blueberry, Virginia creeper, raspberry, currants and cherry.
5. Seeds & Feeders
Brown Thrashers prefer to eat on the ground and are hard to attract to feeders. They will not often visit a hanging feeder, but may visit a platform-style feeder or ground feeder. Since they are a bit shy about being out in the open, having your feeder close to some bushes can help to draw them out where they can search for seed that has spilled below. Scatter some mixed seed, black oil sunflower, cracked corn, or even mealworms on the ground.
They’ve also been known to occasionally visit suet cages, where they favor peanut flavored suet with peanut pieces.
6. Avoid Pesticides
Since brown thrashers feed on a variety of insects, avoiding the use of pesticides on your lawn and garden ensures a healthy food supply for them. Opt for natural pest control methods to maintain a bird-friendly environment.
7. Make your yard cat-free
Thrashers spend most of their time on the ground, which makes them vulnerable to outdoor cats. Keeping your yard pet-free helps these birds feel safe enough come out from the bushes where you can see them, and continue to return. If neighborhood cats are being troublesome in your yard, we have a few tricks you can try here.
Melanie is an environmental scientist, birdwatcher, and amateur photographer. She’s been a birding hobbyist for years and loves feeding and learning about birds of all types. Over the years, Melanie has identified more than 250 bird species, with sightings of the Atlantic Puffin, Hawaiian Goose, and Arctic Tern among her most cherished.