Brown Thrasher

On April 6, 1935, the Brown Thrasher was first chosen as the Georgia state bird by official proclamation of the Governor. In 1970, at the request of the Garden Clubs of Georgia, it was designated by the Legislature as the official state bird.

Thrashers, like mockingbirds and catbirds, are members of a group known as mimic thrushes.  A characteristic of this group is the imitation of sounds.  

The most notable quality of the thrasher's music, aside from the occasional imitation, is the phasing.  The loud, ringing song sounds like: "Hurry up, hurry up; plow it, plow it; harrow it; chuck; sow it, sow it, sow it; chuck-chuck, chuck-chuck; hoe it, hoe it."  The bird is usually seen singing from a high perch out in the open.

Brown Thrasher