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
