What is "sage thrasher"

Sage \Sage\, n. [OE. sauge, F. sauge, L. salvia, from salvus saved, in allusion to its reputed healing virtues. See Safe.] (Bot.)

1. A suffruticose labiate plant ( Salvia officinalis) with grayish green foliage, much used in flavoring meats, etc. The name is often extended to the whole genus, of which many species are cultivated for ornament, as the scarlet sage, and Mexican red and blue sage.

2. The sagebrush.

   Meadow sage (Bot.), a blue-flowered species of Salvia ( S. pratensis) growing in meadows in Europe.

   Sage cheese, cheese flavored with sage, and colored green by the juice of leaves of spinach and other plants which are added to the milk.

   Sage cock (Zo["o]l.), the male of the sage grouse; in a more general sense, the specific name of the sage grouse.

   Sage green, of a dull grayish green color, like the leaves of garden sage.

   Sage grouse (Zo["o]l.), a very large American grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus), native of the dry sagebrush plains of Western North America. Called also cock of the plains. The male is called sage cock, and the female sage hen.

   Sage hare, or Sage rabbit (Zo["o]l.), a species of hare ( Lepus Nuttalli syn. Lepus artemisia) which inhabits the arid regions of Western North America and lives among sagebrush. By recent writers it is considered to be merely a variety of the common cottontail, or wood rabbit.

   Sage hen (Zo["o]l.), the female of the sage grouse.

   Sage sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a small sparrow ( Amphispiza Belli, var. Nevadensis) which inhabits the dry plains of the Rocky Mountain region, living among sagebrush.

   Sage thrasher (Zo["o]l.), a singing bird ( Oroscoptes montanus) which inhabits the sagebrush plains of Western North America.

   Sage willow (Bot.), a species of willow ( Salix tristis) forming a low bush with nearly sessile grayish green leaves.

Thrasher \Thrash"er\, Thresher \Thresh"er\, n.

1. One who, or that which, thrashes grain; a thrashing machine.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A large and voracious shark ( Alopias vulpes), remarkable for the great length of the upper lobe of its tail, with which it beats, or thrashes, its prey. It is found both upon the American and the European coasts. Called also fox shark, sea ape, sea fox, slasher, swingle-tail, and thrasher shark.

3. (Zo["o]l.) A name given to the brown thrush and other allied species. See Brown thrush.

   Sage thrasher. (Zo["o]l.) See under Sage.

   Thrasher whale (Zo["o]l.), the common killer of the Atlantic.

n. A thrasher (''Oreoscoptes montanus'') which is a pale gray-brown above and white with brown streaks below and inhabits sagebrush regions in south-western North America.

The sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) is a medium-sized passerine bird from the family Mimidae, which also includes mockingbirds, tremblers, and New World catbirds. It is the only member of the genus Oreoscoptes. This seems less close to the Caribbean thrashers, but rather to the mockingbirds instead (Hunt et al. 2001, Barber et al. 2004).

O. montanus are pale grey-brown on the upperparts and white on the underparts with dark streaks. They have a slim straight relatively short bill, yellow eyes and a long tail, although not as long as that of other thrashers.

As its name suggests, this bird breeds in western North America, from southern Canada to northern Arizona and New Mexico. Its breeding habitat is in areas with dense stands of sagebrush and rarely in other shrubby areas. The female lays 4 or 5 eggs in a twiggy cup nest built in a low bush. Both parents incubate and feed the young birds.

In winter, these birds migrate to the southernmost United States and Mexico, including the Baja Peninsula, north and south.

They mainly eat insects in summer; they also eat berries, especially in winter. They usually search for insects on the ground in brushy locations.

The male bird sings a series of warbled notes to defend his nesting territory.

These birds have declined in some areas where sagebrush has been removed but are still common where suitable habitat remains. The continued decline of sagebrush habitats in western North America is cause for alarm for this and other sagebrush dependent species.