Curve-Billed Thrasher

I was with my son Sam in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in February 2025. We climbed up Arch Canyon and as we got back to the bottom I saw a curve-billed thrasher running around in the parking area. I knew it was a thrasher, but did not know if it was a California thrasher, the type of thrasher we have near our home in California. I did notice it was not as wary as the thrashers near our home. The next day we did some hiking in Alamo Canyon and I saw a curve-billed thrasher in the campground there. It eventually flew up onto a saguaro cactus and stood there for awhile. The day after we were at the little oasis near the visitor center and a curve-billed thrasher came up to the small pond for a drink. I'd been to Organ Pipe many times previously and had never seen a curve-billed thrasher previously. We saw three, each on a different day, on this trip. 

There are six subspecies and we saw ssp. palmeri, also known as Palmer's thrasher, which is found in southern Arizona, and northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. There are western subspecies and eastern subspecies and there are proposals to make ssp. palmeri a separate species. It has orange eyes, shading to golden as it reaches adulthood. It has a gray-brown chest with circular spots. It has a long tail, short wings, a decurved bill, and is brownish-black. The California thrasher has a slightly more curved-bill, has dark eyes instead of yellow-orange eyes and it doesn't have spots on its chest. Unlike the California thrasher, the curve-billed thrasher is not shy about being in the open. 

This and the next two photos were taken in Arch Canyon. The eyes really stand out. 

This and the next photo were taken in Alamo Canyon. 

This and the next two photos were taken near the visitor's center. Note the spots on the chest in the first photo. 

Illustration of ssp. palmeri from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Sage Thrasher

The sage thrasher is the smallest thrasher. It is distinguished from other thrashers by its shorter and less curved bill, a shorter tail and smaller size. It is dependent on sagebrush for successful breeding and its numbers have been greatly reduced because of the elimination of sagebrush lands. I have seen it three times. First was in Buffalo Lake NWR, southwest of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle, on March 20, 2021. Second was on the east side of Antelope Island in Utah on April 12, 2024. Third was at Big Morongo Preserve in California on February 15, 2025. 

The sage thrasher seen in the Texas panhandle. 

This photo, and the next, were taken at Big Morongo. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Based on the range map, the sage thrasher in the Texas panhandle was wintering, at Big Morongo was migrating and at Antelope Island was breeding. 

California Thrasher

I saw my first California thrasher in Live Oak Canyon near my home in Redlands, California. I was sitting under a bridge that goes over Oak Glen Creek that connects Live Oak Canyon Road with the north side of Live Oak Canyon. I looked behind me and saw a bird with a weirdly decurved bill and thought that I was perhaps seeing my first California thrasher. I photographed my first one in Live Oak Canyon, just below Oakmont Park, standing on a large bush, on January 18, 2021. But the first time I "really" saw one was at Big Morongo Preserve near the feeders on May 21, 2022. A thrasher was running in and out of the bushes near the feeders and eating bird seed on the ground. I was amazed to see this elusive bird so clearly. I have subsequently seen them quite a few times at those feeders and also away from the feeders in large bushes. On May 30, 2029 I was with my son, Sam, and wife, Judy, at the UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden and got a great view of two of them standing together in a small tree. they don't feel so elusive now. 

Wikipedia notes, "This species' behavior is difficult to observe because it tends to keep hidden in dense cover. In the open it runs swiftly with its tail raised. The California thrasher has a distinct foraging behavior, often seeking food under dense and continuous cover. It primarily forages on the ground, making up approximately two-thirds of its foraging activity." Further, "The California thrasher forages mostly on the ground, by digging and sweeping leaf litter and soil with its bill. It walks or hops between foraging stops. Its diet in spring is almost exclusively insects and other small invertebrates, to which it adds small soft fruits during the rest of the year. When feeding on fruits it can be in exposed situations, but is often under cover. The California thrasher has a distinct foraging behavior characterized by its habit of searching for food beneath dense and continuous cover. A significant portion of its foraging activity, around two-thirds, is conducted on the ground. The bird's choice of foraging grounds reflects its adaptation to the dense shrubbery and undergrowth common in its habitat." Birds of the World notes, "The California Thrasher is endemic to coastal and foothill areas of California, extending with the chaparral vegetation of the California Biotic Province into adjacent areas of northwest Baja California."

Following are various photos I have taken:

My first photo of one, in Live Oak Canyon. 

My first photos of one at Big Morongo. 

 

At Big Morongo on June 14, 2022. 

At Big Morongo on October 1, 2022. 

At the UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden on March 30, 2029.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Sri Lankan Sambar Deer

I did a post on the Sri Lankan sambar deer (on May 16, 2019) we saw in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan sambar is the subspecies of sambar deer found in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is one of seven subspecies and the largest of them, as those in the western part of their range are the largest. 

One of the first things that crossed my mind is how they compare size-wise with the North American elk. Kyle Katz in AZ Animals did a post "Sambar Deer vs. Elk: What are the differences?" I'd read that the elk is larger, but not by much. The sambar weighs 240 to 1,200 pounds and the elk 350 to 1,300 pounds. That is the biggest difference. The height is 4 to 5 feet for the sambar and 2.5 to 4.9 feet for the elk, which makes the sambar a little taller. The length is virtually identical: 5 to 8.9 feet for the sambar and 5 to 8.8 feet for the elk. There are other differences mentioned, but these were the ones that stuck out to me. 

An Australian website that sells sambar meat says that the sambar cannot be raised commercially. It notes that the high country of southeast Australia has the largest wild sambar herd in the world. The company that sells their meat gets the sambar from landowners in Victoria and New South Wales. Sambar were introduced into Australia in the 1860s in what is now Kinglake NP in Victoria. In 2017 their numbers were estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 in the high country of Australia. 

In India we did not see any sambar in Kaziranga NP in December of 2024, but we saw them in several different zones in Ranthambore NP. On our first safari in zone 3, I provide a photo of one female and of a large male.

Our best looks came on our fourth safari in zone 1. We saw a mother and baby and a number of large males. The best was a large male wallowing in a mud hole. We were watching it when a deer in the nearby forest barked, the signal that a tiger was nearby. The sambar immediately stood up at attention. Our guides noted that it was a great tiger sign (it was awhile later that we saw our first tiger). 

This is the sambar wallowing in the mudhole. 

This is when it jumped up to attention on hearing another deer bark. 

It got out of the mudhole and waited and watched for awhile. 

It eventually walked over to a nearby tree and started to rub its neck against it. 

It then raised its forelegs up the tree and started to rub its belly and antlers. 

Hear it is standing fully upright and is scratching its antlers against the tree limbs.

The range of the sambar from Wikipedia. 

Common Brown Fish Owl

I had a nice surprise the other day as I posted an owl I'd photographed on iNaturalist and the first computerized suggestion was brown fish owl, an owl I'd never heard of. I looked it up on Wikipedia and Birds of the World and determined it was a brown fish owl and posted it. It was a new "lifer" for me, the first time in my life I'd ever seen one. I was thrilled when Brenna Farrell, the number one identifier of brown fish owls on iNaturalist (by a 6.5 to 1 margin) and probably the number one identifier of all owls on iNaturalist, confirmed it. We saw it on our fifth and last safari in Ranthambore, in zone 5, our second time in that zone. My notes from that day do not indicate what kind of owl our guide said it was, and he may not have said. 

I took lots of photos, but the owl never moved, so they are all the same. 

There are four subspecies and we saw ssp. leschenaulti, found in India through Myanmar to west Thailand. and known as the common brown fish owl, distinguishing it from the other three ssp. Birds of the World has two illustrations, but not leschenaulti. I picked the illustration of ssp. zeylonensis, the Sri Lankan brown fish owl, found in Sri Lanka, which looked closer to leschenaulti than the other illustration. Leschenaulti is a little larger and lighter than zeylonensis. 

I've also included the range map from Birds of the World. 

Wikipedia states, "The brown fish owl has prominent ear tufts and rufous brown upperparts that are heavily streaked with black or dark brown. Its underparts are buffy-fulvous to whitish, with wavy dark brown streaks and finer brown barring. Its throat is white and conspicuously puffed. Its facial disk is indistinct, the bill dark and the iris golden yellow. Its featherless feet are yellow. Two-year old brown fish owls are somewhat paler than adults. Female and male differ slightly in size." The feather pattern on the wing and the chest are what sold me on it. 

As the name suggests, it does include fish in its diet, something I've never heard of owls eating. 

Indian Ruddy Mongoose

I previously did a post on the Sri Lankan ruddy mongoose (post on July 2, 2019), subspecies zeylanius, which is endemic to Sri Lanka. At the time there were two ssp. However, there are now three ssp. recognized. The other two are ssp. smithi, the Indian ruddy mongoose, the nominate, which is found in the hill forest and peninsular regions of India and ssp. thysanurus, the Kashmir ruddy mongoose, found in Kashmir and northern India. 

I was recently in Ranthambore NP, in Rajasthan, which is 130 km (81 miles) southeast of Jaipur, in northern India, but in a hilly forest region. I don't find anything which delineates the physical differences between smithi and thysanurus or where the line of demarcation is. AI says that Ranthambore has smithi, but it is very likely going to a source that predates the addition of thysanurus as a ssp. But either way, it is still a different ssp. than zeylanius. 

Following are my photos of the one smithi I saw in Zone 1 of Ranthambore NP in November 2025.