Aztec Thrush

Overview

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.

Range and Habitat

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

INTERESTING FACTS

Between 1996 and 2006, only very few were reported or documented in Arizona. They are usually seen feeding in choke cherry trees in canyons.
Since then there have been at around 50 Aztec Thrushes in the US, mostly from southeast Arizona (including an astonishing 21 in 1996).
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.
A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.