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Cozumel Thrasher | Toxostoma guttatum
Cozumelspotlijster | Cuitlacoche de Cozumel
The Cozumel Thrasher is a medium-sized brown thrasher with black-streaked white underparts, found only on the island of Cozumel. After severe hurricanes since 1988 it has become so rare that there are few confirmed records. It is one of the most threatened birds in the guide area.
No photograph of a living wild bird of this species with a suitable Creative Commons licence exists. Do you have one that meets the rules? Send it in.
Voice
A rich, varied song of whistled and hoarse phrases, with repetitions, similar to that of Long-billed Thrasher. Call a dry, soft chak.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
22–24 cm. Upperparts warm rufous-brown. Underparts white with rows of black teardrop to streak-shaped spots on breast and flanks. Two white wing bars. Bill long, black and slightly decurved; tail long and rufous-brown. The sexes are alike. Smaller and shorter-billed than Long-billed Thrasher, which it closely resembles.
Confusion species
No other thrasher with streaked underparts is to be expected on Cozumel. Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus is grey with unstreaked white underparts and a long tail with white corners. Black Catbird Melanoptila glabrirostris is entirely black.
Habitat
Undergrowth of dry, semi-deciduous low forest and scrub in the interior of Cozumel, also forest edges and overgrown secondary forest. It forages on the ground among leaf litter for insects and other invertebrates.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to the island of Cozumel off the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula (Quintana Roo, Mexico). It does not occur outside the guide area.
How and when to look
Since 2006 there have been only a few unconfirmed or poorly documented reports. Every sighting is of great importance and is ideally documented with a photograph or sound recording and passed on to the conservation authorities of Cozumel.
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (CR). Fairly common until the 1980s, then declined sharply after hurricanes Gilbert (1988), Roxanne (1995) and Emily and Wilma (2005). Introduced boas, feral cats and dogs and expanding development are an ongoing threat. The remaining population, if it still exists, is very small.
Scientific name
Toxostoma guttatum | (Ridgway, 1885)
Ridgway described the species in 1885 as Harporhynchus guttatus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Toxostoma was introduced in 1831 by Wagler. Toxostoma is Greek, from toxon 'bow' and stoma 'mouth', after the long, curved bill. guttatum is Latin for 'spotted' (from gutta 'drop'), after the dark drop-shaped spots on the white underparts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.