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Class Aves
Order Passeriformes
Family Mimidae

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Mimus polyglottos—Mockingbird // Oreoscoptes montanus—Sage Thrasher // Toxostoma sp.—American Thrashers

Mimidae—Mockingbirds and Thrashers

About a half dozen species of the family occur in our region, though some (such as the Catbird and Brown Thrasher) are relatively limited in their regional distribution.

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Mimus sp.—MockingbirdsPleistocene regional distribution of Mimus sp.

Sites.

Rancholabrean: Cool Water Coal Gasification Solid Waste Site (Jefferson 1991a: ? gen.).

Literature. Jefferson 1991a.

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Mimus polyglottos—Northern MockingbirdPleistocene regional distribution of Mimus polyglottis

Current distribution is pretty much region-wide, though high, densely forested montane habitats are avoided (Ligon 1961). Discrimination of fossil material from similar-sized passeriformes is difficult, and little confidence should be placed in the identifications recorded here.

Sites.

Early/Early-Mid Wisconsin: Rm Vanishing Floor (Harris 1993c: cf. gen. et sp.).

Mid Wisconsin: Pendejo Cave (Harris 2003: cf.)

Literature. Harris 1993c, 2003; Ligon 1961.

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Oreoscoptes montanus (Townsend 1837)—Sage ThrasherPleistocene regional distribution of Oreoscoptes montanus

Nesting and the summer range currently is limited rather strongly to Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) (Ligon 1961). However, between the summer range, migration, and winter range, our entire region is covered.

Sites.

Mid/Late Wisconsin: Rancho La Brea (Stock and Harris 1992).

Mid Wisconsin-Holocene: Shelter Cave (Howard and Miller 1933).

Literature. Howard and Miller 1933; Ligon 1961; Stock and Harris 1992.

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Toxostoma sp.—American ThrashersPleistocene regional distribution of Toxostoma sp.

Since a number of species of Toxostoma occur in our region, the generic identification is of little value for environmental interpretation.

Sites.

Mid Wisconsin-Holocene: Shelter Cave (Howard and Miller 1933).

Literature. Howard and Miller 1933.

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Toxostoma redivivum (Gambel 1845)—California ThrasherPleistocene regional distribution of Toxostoma redivivum

Sites.

Late Pleistocene: Rancho del Oro (Jefferson 2014).

Mid/Late Wisconsin: Rancho La Brea (Stock and Harris 1992).

Late Wisconsin: Maricopa (Jefferson 1991a).

Literature. Jefferson 1991a, Jefferson 2014 Stock and Harris 1992.

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Last Update: 28 May 2015