{"id":459,"date":"2010-08-23T19:18:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-24T01:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=459"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T01:18:59","slug":"sage-thrashers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/23\/sage-thrashers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sage Thrashers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SageSage Thrasher in morning light – D200, f7.1, 1\/750, ISO 320, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have not been seeing as many Sage Thrashers this year as last. I suppose it is part of a normal cycle, but I have missed seeing them flitting all over the sagebrushes as often as I did last summer.<\/p>\n

The image above of the adult Sage Thrasher was taken just 5 days short of a year ago. Using a vehicle as a portable blind often allows closer approach to this species than when on foot on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This thrasher was on the wrong side of the vehicle so I quickly put the window down and took about 6-7 “grab shots,” I was pleased with the results and enjoy how the background has similar tones to the bird’s coloration.<\/p>\n

Sage Thrashers are from the Mimid family. They forage mainly on the ground for insects, though they do eat berries at times.<\/p>\n

\"SageSage Thrasher juvenile on a rock – D200, f8, 1\/800, ISO 400, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, with a little luck and good spotting I was able to find this juvenile Sage Thrasher perched on a rock while it waited for one of the adults to bring it some food. The behavior right before the adult flew in was interesting. The juvenile started to flutter its wings, flicked its tail and made a soft sounding call. The background in this image consists of sagebrush, which I think is appropriate for this species.<\/p>\n

These two photos show the differences between adult and juvenile Sage Thrashers quite nicely in my opinion.<\/p>\n

I was very excited to take my first images of a juvenile Sage Thrasher today, they are a delightful species.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Sunflowers on Antelope Island State Park – D200, f\/11, 1\/320, ISO 400, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I keep hoping that one day I will be able to photograph a Sage Thrasher on the wild sunflowers that abound on Antelope Island State Park. I will keep looking for the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Sage Thrasher photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sage Thrashers are from the Mimid family. They forage mainly on the ground for insects, though they do eat berries at times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,103,26],"tags":[4004,4226,215,4134,4982,4827,4067,56,4164,4104,4470,4003,105,4613,735,4193],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-sage-thrashers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-behavior","tag-bird-id","tag-chick","tag-comparison","tag-differences","tag-immature","tag-juveniles-2","tag-oreoscoptes-montanus","tag-perched","tag-rocks","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-sunflowers","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5100.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14794,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/20\/sage-thrashers-mockingbirds-of-the-sagebrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":0},"title":"Sage Thrashers – Mockingbirds of the Sagebrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent some time yesterday on Antelope Island State Park photographing and listening to a very cooperative and melodious Sage Thrasher.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing Sage Thrasher in low light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-singing-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5350.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-singing-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5350.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-singing-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5350.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-singing-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5350.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8765,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/01\/sage-thrashers-aplenty\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":1},"title":"Sage Thrashers Aplenty","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There are Sage Thrashers aplenty on Antelope Island State Park right now and they have been thrashing, dashing and singing their little hearts out the last three trips I have made out to the island.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening Sage Thrasher on a thin branch, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-preening-mia-mcpherson-1578.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/13\/looking-for-my-first-of-year-sage-thrasher\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":2},"title":"Looking For My First Of Year Sage Thrasher","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"March 13th is an anniversary of sorts for me. The date is the earliest that I have seen and photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy Sage Thrasher adult warming up on a rock, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sage-thrasher-adult-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-0248.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":66616,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/09\/juvenile-immature-and-adult-sage-thrashers\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile, Immature And Adult Sage Thrashers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The comparisons I have made between juvenile, immature and adult Sage Thrashers are basic, there are more ways to determine their age but I wanted to keep the comparisons simple.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Sage Thrasher on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14817,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/23\/sage-thrashers-and-sagebrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":4},"title":"Sage Thrashers and Sagebrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sage Thrashers are considered sagebrush obligates meaning that they require sagebrush for some part of their life cycle and for the Sage Thrashers in Utah that means they need it during the breeding cycle.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffed up Sage Thrasher and pastel hues, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104808,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/07\/sage-thrasher-in-riparian-habitat\/","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":5},"title":"Sage Thrasher In Riparian Habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Towards the end of last month I found a Sage Thrasher high in the mountains in riparian habitat which surprised me. A lot.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sage Thrasher in riparian habitat, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sage-thrasher-riparian-habitat-mia-mcpherson-6554.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}