Red-backed mockingbird
Red-backed mockingbird | ||||||||||||
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![]() Red-backed mockingbird ( Toxostoma rufum ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Toxostoma rufum | ||||||||||||
( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The red-backed mockingbird ( Toxostoma rufum ) is a North American songbird.
features
The 29 cm long red-backed mockingbird is colored red-brown on the top and white with brown stripes on the underside. The bird has two white wing stripes and a long tail with white outer tail feathers. The long beak is bent down a little.
Occurrence
The red-backed mockingbird lives in southern Canada and the central and eastern United States in forest regions, bushes, hedges and gardens. The northern populations move south in winter.
behavior
The shy bird looks for insects , earthworms and sometimes lizards on the ground under leaves . Nuts, seeds and berries complete the menu.
Reproduction
In a shell nest made of twigs, lined with finer plant material, in undergrowth or dense undergrowth, the two parent birds alternately incubate two to six eggs for around two weeks. The young birds fledge in just nine days. The birds aggressively defend their nests and also attack dogs and humans, sometimes so violently that blood flows. The red-backed mockingbird usually breeds two, rarely three times a year.
Others
The brown thrasher is the official state bird of Georgia and the namesake of the Atlanta Thrashers , the clubs National Hockey League from Atlanta .
literature
- Colin Harrison & Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 1993, 2000, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3
Web links
- Toxostoma rufum in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Toxostoma rufum in the Internet Bird Collection
- Red mockingbird feathers