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Home/Species/ Crissal Thrasher

Toxostoma crissale

Henry, 1858

Crissal Thrasher

G5Secure Found in 15 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
LowThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103739
Element CodeABPBK06090
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyMimidae
GenusToxostoma
Synonyms
Toxostoma dorsale
Other Common Names
Cuitlacoche Crisal (ES) Moqueur cul-roux (FR)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Formerly known as T. dorsale (AOU 1998). Sibley and Monroe (1990) suggest that this species constitutes a superspecies with T. redvivum, but the phylogenetic analysis of Zink et al. (1999) indicates that the sister species of T. crissale is T. lecontei. Placed in the family Sturnidae by Sibley and Ahlquist (1984).
Conservation Status
Rank Method Rank calculation - Biotics v2
Review Date2023-08-02
Change Date1996-12-03
Edition Date2023-08-02
Edition AuthorsGundy, R. L. (2023)
Threat ImpactLow
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Number of Occurrences81 to >300
Rank Reasons
This species is found from the southwestern United States into central Mexico. It is patchily distributed where there is dense vegetation in arid habitats. There are no major threats. Recent data reports the population has been increasing.
Range Extent Comments
This species is found in southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, northwestern and central Arizona, central New Mexico and western Texas, USA south to northeastern Baja California, central Sonora and central Chihuahua, south locally to central Mexico (Cody 2020). Range extent is estimated to be approximately 1,000,000 km².
Occurrences Comments
There are many occurrences throughout its range.
Threat Impact Comments
Habitat loss due to agriculture and development is a limited threat (Cody 2020).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Desert scrub, mesquite, tall riparian brush and, locally, chaparral (AOU 1983). Usually beneath dense cover. BREEDING: Nests in low tree or shrub, usually in a fork, 0.8-2.5 m above ground (Terres 1980).

Reproduction

Clutch size 2-4 (usually 3). Incubation 14 days, by both sexes (Terres 1980). Nestlings altricial. Young tended by both adults, leave nest 11-12 days after hatching.
Terrestrial Habitats
Shrubland/chaparralDesert
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
Navajo NationS3Yes
NevadaS3Yes
CaliforniaS2Yes
TexasS4BYes
UtahSUYes
ArizonaS5Yes
New MexicoS4Yes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
2 - Agriculture & aquacultureRestricted - smallSlight or 1-10% pop. declineHigh (continuing)
2.1 - Annual & perennial non-timber cropsRestricted - smallSlight or 1-10% pop. declineHigh (continuing)

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Roadless Areas (15)
Arizona (10)
AreaForestAcres
Black CanyonPrescott National Forest10,683
BoulderTonto National Forest40,359
Catalina St. Pk. Roadless AreaCoronado National Forest951
ChiricahuaCoronado National Forest76,876
GaliuroCoronado National Forest28,333
Lime CreekTonto National Forest42,568
PinalenoCoronado National Forest130,920
TumacacoriCoronado National Forest44,594
Walker MountainCoconino National Forest6,382
WhetstoneCoronado National Forest20,728
New Mexico (4)
AreaForestAcres
Apache Kid ContiguousCibola National Forest67,542
Ortega PeakLincoln National Forest11,545
San JoseCibola National Forest16,950
South Guadalupe MountainsLincoln National Forest20,930
Utah (1)
AreaForestAcres
Pine Valley MountainsDixie National Forest57,673
References (27)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. Balda, R. P., and G. C. Bateman. 1971. Flocking and annual cycle of the piñon jay, <i>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</i>. Condor 73:287-302.
  4. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  5. Cody, M. L. 2020. Crissal Thrasher (<i>Toxostoma crissale</i>), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.crithr.01
  6. Fitton, S.D. 2008. Crissal Thrasher (<i>Toxostoma crissale</i>) Account in Shuford, W. D., and Gardali, T., editors. California Bird Species of Special Concern: A ranked assessment of species, subspecies, and distinct populations of birds of immediate conservation concern in California. Studies of Western Birds 1. Western Field Ornithologists, Camarillo, California, and California Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento. https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=10421&inline (Accessed 19 June 2023).
  7. Gardali, T., N.E. Seavy, R.T. DiGauldio, and L.A. Comrack. 2012. A climate change vulnerability assessment of California’s at-risk birds. PLoS ONE 7(3): e29507. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029507
  8. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). 2023. EBird Data Download for Crissal Thrasher (<i>Toxostoma crissale</i>) for 2017-2023. GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ucn4rx (Accessed 19 June 2023).
  9. Grinnell, J. 1914. An Account of the Birds and Mammals of the Lower Colorado Valley with Especial Reference to the Distributional Problems Presented. Univ. of Cal. Pub. In Zoology. Vol. 12, No. 4: 51-294. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29524405
  10. Grinnell, J., and A. Miller. 1944. The distribution of the birds of California. Pacific Coast Avifauna Number 27, Cooper Ornithological Club, Berkeley, California.
  11. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  12. Horn, H. S. 1968. The adaptive significance of colonial nesting in the Brewer's Blackbird. Ecology 49:682-694.
  13. Ligon, J. D. 1971. Late summer-autumnal breeding of the piñon jay in New Mexico. Condor 73:147-153.
  14. Moore, W. S., and R. A. Dolbeer. 1989. The use of banding recovery data to estimate dispersal rates and gene flow in avian species: case studies in the Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackle. Condor 91:242-253.
  15. Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
  16. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  17. Phillips, A., J. Marshall, and G. Monson. 1964. The birds of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  18. Phillips, A. R. 1986. The known birds of North and Middle America: distribution and variations, migrations, changes, hybrids, etc. Part I, Hirundinidae to Mimidae, Certhiidae. Published by the author, Denver, Colorado. lxi + 259 pp.
  19. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  20. Sibley, C.G., and B.L. Monroe, Jr. 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. xxiv + 1111 pp.
  21. Sibley, C.G., and J.E. Ahlquist. 1984. The relationships of the starlings (Sturnidae: Sturnini) and the mockingbirds (Sturnidae: Mimini). Auk 101:230-243.
  22. Tarvin, K. A., and G. E. Woolfenden. 1999. Blue Jay (<i>Cyanocitta cristata</i>). No. 469 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 32pp.
  23. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  24. Thompson, F. R., III. 1994. Temporal and spatial patterns of breeding brown-headed cowbirds in the midwestern United States. Auk 111:979-990.
  25. Williams, L. 1952b. Breeding behavior of the Brewer blackbird. Condor 54:3-47.
  26. Willson, M. F. 1966. Breeding ecology of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Ecological Monographs 36:51-77.
  27. Zink, R. M., D. L. Dittmann, J. Klicka, and R. C. Blackwell-Rago. 1999. Evolutionary patterns of morphometrics, allozymes, and mitochondrial DNA in thrashers (Genus TOXOSTOMA). Auk 116:1021-1038.