Orpheus longirostris The long-billed thrasher (Toxostoma longirostre) is a medium-sized resident songbird of South Texas and eastern Mexico.

Like other thrashers, it is named after its sweeping methods when searching for food, not for thrashing predators, although they are aggressive defenders of their territories.

Range extends from southern (particularly south central) Texas to the Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi.

[7] Plumage patterns and bill shapes were originally used for grouping,[7] and the birds also were shown as closely related with genetic studies.

The iris is typically either orange or orange-yellow, with a dull brown bill with its base of the lower mandible appear to be pinkish grey.

The underparts are whiter, less buffy, and more robustly colored, an eye that appears more orange and beady, and generally a longer-bill that is blacker and stands apart from the face.

[11] Although it is a resident in the lower Rio Grande Valley, a significant amount of its habitat was destroyed for agricultural purposes, and its population in the area decreased from the 1930s to the 1970s.

[4] In Texas there is some evidence of a northern and eastern expansion of the range over a five decade span (1957-2007), with climate change as the suggested cause.

[4] The longest recorded lifespan of the species was one individual recovered on 30 September 1965, at age 7 years and 3 months, after being banded (on 24 Aug 1959) in Alamo, TX.

[11] The nest is a bulky cup placed in thick low or mid-height vegetation and made of materials such as twigs, straws, and grasses.

The female lays 2 to 5 eggs described as bluish-white with dense reddish-brown and gray speckles;[9] the appearance is indistinguishable from the brown thrasher.

Their diet consists of invertebrates such as grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects, crustaceans, gastropods, and an adequate amount of vegetable matter, especially berries.