Here it is. The ferocious thrashers... that belongs to the same family as the mockingbird. Brown thrashers are ground birds, except in spring when the males sing from perches. The rest of the time, they scratch in leaves, shuffling and overturning them with gusto. They can run quite fast along the ground. Insects and fruit comprise most of their diet. They are not common on bird feeders, but may occasionallly take some seeds from the ground. Brown thrashers can gang up to protect a nest of eggs from marauding snakes. Nowadays thrashers are much more likely to be destroyed by feral cats running loose in the neighborhood than by snakes. On the photo, noteice rusty brown coloration of wings and back, the long uptilted tail, breast streaking, yellow eye, and a beak meant for business.

Photo and text taken from: Common birds of atlanta by Jim Wilson and Anselm Atkins. Hexagon publications.