STATUS: Uncommon and local.
HABITAT: Lives in the hottest, driest, most barren deserts of the Southwest, and is most abundant in saltbush and open creosotebush deserts.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Deserts with scattered shrubs.
NEST: Builds its nest, a bulky mass of thorny twigs and sticks, usually in cholla cactus but also in other desert shrubs or trees such as mesquite, paloverde, saltbush, sage, ocotillo, and ironwood, usually 4 to 8 feet above the ground.
FOOD: Has food habits that are probably similar to those of other thrashers.
REFERENCES: Bent 1948, Phillips et al. 1964, Terres 1980, Webster in Farrand 1983c.