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Aztec Thrush

Ridgwayia pinicolaOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Thrushes (Turdidae)

Aztec Thrush Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Aztec Thrush: Large thrush with dark-streaked, brown-black upperparts, head, and upper breast. Underparts are white with dark brown mottled flanks. Wings are dark with white shoulders and tips. Tail is dark with broad white tip. Female is paler brown overall with more streaks on breast and throat. Juvenile has white-streaked upperparts and scaled brown underparts.

Range and Habitat

Aztec Thrush: Native of Mexico that makes rare visits to Arizona and Texas.

Voice Text

"wheeerr", "dweeeeir", "wheeeeer", "sweee-uh"

Interesting Facts

  • The first US record of an Aztec Thrush sighting came in 1977 in Big Bend National Park, TX. The next record came from Madera Canyon, AZ in 1978.
  • Since then there have been at around 50 Aztec Thrushes in the US, mostly from southeast Arizona (including an astonishing 21 in 1996).
  • Between 1996 and 2006, only very few were reported or documented in Arizona. They are usually seen feeding in choke cherry trees in canyons.
  • A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Aztec Thrush
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Ridgwayia pinicola
Length9 - 10 Inches
Wingspan15 Inches

Aztec Thrush

Aztec Thrush: Large thrush, dark-streaked, brown-black upperparts, head, upper breast. Underparts are white with dark brown mottled flanks. Wings are dark with white shoulders and tips. Dark tail with broad white tip. Pink-gray legs, feet. Swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Song: "wheeerr", "dweeeeir", "wheeeeer", "sweee-uh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Aztec Thrush: Eats insects, fruits, and berries; forages in trees and shrubs, and occasionally on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Aztec Thrush: Two to three light blue eggs are laid in a nest made of twigs, moss, grass, and mud, lined with finer materials, and built on a branch or fork in a tree. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Aztec Thrush: Varied Thrush has rust-brown breast and wing-bars and lacks orange on crown.

Flight Pattern

Swift rapid direct flight on quickly beating wings.
Aztec Thrush Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Aztec Thrush: Native of Mexico that makes rare visits to Arizona and Texas.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationRare, Irregular vagrant
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight2 Ounces