RUFOUS-BACKED THRUSH
they were actually fairly common, despite not allowing close approach, flying away at the earliest convenience. I studied them throughout the whole period I was covering my patch; and noted that aside from the plumage details, there were other distinct behavioural differences between this species and the American Robin.
To my mind, the most obvious of these were the flight patterns. The Rufous-backed Thrushes had a more fluttery and undulating flight, often ending in an upward swoop to perch within a tree. Meanwhile, the American Robin’s flight was slightly more direct and purposeful, and they often landed out in the open. Perhaps the main reason for my surprise at originally discovering this species in this urban park was that, within the field guide I was using, its distribution was shown to not cover the Mexico City region at all. I had made an urban bird discovery!
Warblers galore
Despite the sparse cover and multitude of people, I discovered an array of migrant warblers, including a few Yellow-rumped, Townsend’s and Black-throated Grey Warblers migrating through. The most commonly seen of the warblers were the
Nashville’s. I didn’t see any of the distinctive adult males, however, as most birds were either females or first-winter males. I also found a lovely male Scarlet Tanager, Swainson’s Thrush, Black-headed Grosbeak and, my favourite, a charismatic Ovenbird that I found close by, shuffling in leaf litter, quite unconcerned by my presence.
All in all, my impromptu birding in Mexico City was pleasurable, and, despite feeling nervous at times about waving my binoculars around in public, it was quite safe. However, I did have one moment of grief. I was walking alone to the set that was located a few streets away from the hotel when I noticed movement overhead. On looking up I saw a swarm of swifts wafting through the high-rise buildings.
Fascinated, I kept looking up as I walked pondering the identity of my mystery swifts. They had tiny filaments at the end of their tails, so were they Chimney or Vaux’s Swifts? As I was about to conclude that they were in fact Vaux’s Swifts, I suddenly fell. I had stepped into an unseen giant hole in the pavement. I felt immense pain in the front of my shin as I had managed to scrape it along the jagged edge of the jutting slab at the edge of the hole. My leg was cut open to
Slightly smaller in size to the American Robin, and in turn, a tad larger than our Song Thrush, the Rufous-backed Thrush (also known as the Rufous-backed Robin) is endemic to the Pacific slope of Mexico. It closely resembles the American Robin, its more widespread cousin, but is so-named because of the adult’s rufous or olive-rufous upper back. The females tend to be generally duller. The more washed-out looking range-restricted subspecies found around Islas Tres Marías and San Blas, Nayarit along Mexico’s Pacific coast are sometimes deemed as a separate species – Grayson’s Thrush.
The interesting fact about this species is that the birds that I saw in Mexico City, along with the ones to be found in Oaxaca City, are thought to have probably descended from escaped cage birds. Hence their non-coverage in the fieldguides. the bone, with blood everywhere. A homeless man appeared from nowhere and quickly started attending to me, as I got on the walkie-talkie to alert my colleagues. Several stitches later I had a painful scar to remind me never to look up for prolonged periods while birding on city streets.