# I have Desert Thrashers in our climbing roses
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 1, 2021, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963 "2021-02-01T05:39:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/1 "2021-02-01T05:39:21Z")
We have [Desert Thrashers](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bendires_Thrasher/media-browser-overview/171265251) building a nest in our climbing roses.
Two days ago, we noticed a male Thrasher on top of one of our pines, just singing his heart out. You didn’t need to be a bird to hear him singing his praises and the wonderful things he could do.
As the wonderful things he could do was to provide a yard with suet, seeds, fresh water and a safe place to build a nest as well as his magnificent self, it didn’t take him long to attract attention.
The lovely lady who took him up on his invitation has been happily building a nest with him in the climbing roses (about 4 feet away from the water closet window), bathing and dining out with him.
As we are bored to tears, mom and I are spending much time standing in the water closet to look out the window at the small bit of hope hidden by thorns.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/2 "2021-02-01T06:02:40Z")
🍿
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/3 "2021-02-01T17:37:15Z")
For the record, Thrashers get up too early. They have a clump of dried grass that they want for their nest, but they don’t want the clump, they want individual pieces of dried grass. Both of them keep shaking and pulling at the clump until the get a piece off to take to the nest. That’s cute. They also yell at it and each other. Not so cute at dawn.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/4 "2021-02-01T17:47:31Z")
Just wait til you have Thrasher eggs. This thread will last for years.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/5 "2021-02-01T21:59:01Z")
I don’t think I’ll be able to see eggs, but I’ll probably be able to tell when they are nesting. Both sexes care for the young.
They sure are going through the suet, though. A cake every 3 days is rather excessive in my opinion. Oh well, they are entertaining and I don’t have a life.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/6 "2021-02-01T22:15:23Z")
Previous thread:
> [@We Have Pigeon Eggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-pigeon-eggs/449131):
>
> So the wife and I just returned from a trip up North. We were gone nine days. Got home about 8:30 last night (Monday night). Turned on the lights, opened the curtains to the balcony. When I opened the curtains, a pigeon on the balcony freaked out and fled. That’s odd, I thought. What’s a pigeon doing out there this time of night? Then I saw that a nest had been built inside an empty flower pot, and there in the middle of it were two eggs! We never did see the parent return last night, but peekin…
Ran from 2008 to 2018.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/7 "2021-02-01T22:22:33Z")
Ohhhh! I was an occasional lurker then and must have missed the thread. How fun!
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/8 "2021-02-02T01:27:15Z")
We’ve had a mating pair of bald eagles in our trees. No nest though.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/9 "2021-02-02T02:21:47Z")
Have you identified the species? I’ve never heard of “desert thrasher”. I think about 6 kinds of thrashers occur in the southwestern states. Some hard to identify, distinguished mostly by bill size/shape and breast markings.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/10 "2021-02-02T04:30:12Z")
@jtur88 I am sorry I wasn’t clear enough. I was referring to the Bendire’s Thrasher in the link. Desert Thrashers are what the local bird watchers call the 4 species of thrashers that hang out in this area.
I’ve seen Curve-billed Thrasher’s hanging out in the area, they are easy for me to identify because of their white stripes on their under wings when they are flying. I don’t know if I’ve seen the other local thrashers because usually I can’t see them well enough to be able to make out the markings.
I’m positive about the identification of the birds nesting 4 feet away from the water closet window, though. In other times, I would invite other bird watchers to hang out in our water closet and look out the window. Sad that those times are gone.
@panache45 I am totally jealous! I’ve seen eagles soaring overhead, but never got close to one in the wild.
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/11 "2021-02-02T05:10:31Z")
Very cool. Every year my wife and I get a couple pairs of Juncos nesting in hanging flower pots. We have watched a number of Juncos go from eggs to flying for the first time.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/12 "2021-02-02T05:19:08Z")
> [@racer72](#):
>
> Juncos
I am even more jealous of you! Very cute little colorful birds in flower pots. That sounds magic!
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/13 "2021-02-02T08:58:41Z")
Wow – Bendires are really hard to find. I’ve only IDed one, voice assisted, in the oil fields near Taft CA. I’ve seen people mistakenly call them. But I never lived in the desert, just a visiting birder there.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/14 "2021-02-02T17:45:35Z")
I didn’t know how lucky I was! Well, besides having birds nesting that close to a window that is. On the other side of the next street over is miles and miles of empty high desert. We see lots of interesting wildlife.
I always get happy when I see my first Turkey Buzzard of the year, because that means spring has finally arrived.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2021, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/15 "2021-02-04T01:45:22Z")
I am pretty sure we have Thrasher eggs! I can peer into the roses and see a nesting bird. Hopefully I will have lots of fun stories to and maybe even pics to share in a couple of months.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-desert-thrashers-in-our-climbing-roses/931963/16 "2021-02-15T21:18:46Z")
[Exciting life and death battle with a king snake](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191587192@N04/albums/72157718307458777). I rescued the snake. There were two Curved Beak Thrashers involved, while one was distracting the snake, the other one would swoop in and bite its tail. They took off about an inch before I got involved.