Greater and lesser coverts are a warm brown with concealed white tips, preceded with a black bar.

[6] The thrasher is predominately terrestrial and elusive and as with all members of the genus Toxostoma, it may resort to running instead of flying when startled.

Ornithologists Ludlow Griscom and Raymond A. Paynter, Jr. had noted its secretive behavior, but James Bond did not.

[6] The numbers of this bird declined rapidly when Hurricane Gilbert hit this island on September 14, 1988.

Until it was sighted in June 2004, this bird had last been seen in 1995, the same year that Hurricane Roxanne hit Cozumel on October 11, and it was widely believed to have become extinct.

[2] It is still unclear what damage the impact of Hurricanes Emily and Wilma in 2005 caused; it seems that the bird was not found anymore during a survey in December 2006.

[7] Inquiry from the local population had suggested that the species would likely be encountered near the Mayan ruins of San Gervasio.

[8] Some scientists believe that other factors must have contributed to the bird's decline, because the Cozumel thrasher likely survived hurricanes for millennia.