American Robin, Turdus migratorius

American Robin, Turdus migratorius propinguus, Female. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, March 2020. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

American Robin, Turdus migratorius propinguus, Male. Photograph taken within the bush of the greater Bahía de los Ángeles area, Baja California, February 2023. Photograph courtesy of George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles. Identification courtesy of Mary & George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles.

The American Robin, Turdus migratorius propinguus, is one of seven subspecies of American Robin, four of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Turdidae Family of Thrushes and Allies, which has one hundred seventy-four global species placed in eighteen genera, and one of eighty-three global members of the Turdus Genus. They are known in Mexico as zorzal Americano.

The American Robin is the largest, most abundant, and widely distributed thrush in North America. They are sexually dimorphic. The males have deep grayish to dark-brown upperparts with a blackish head, white crescents above and below the eye, white tips on outer rectrices, rich rufous underparts with white undertail coverts, and a white throat, streaked with black. The bill is conspicuously yellow, their iris is dark brown and their legs and feet are brown. The adult female is similar but the has a paler gray crown and mantle, a paler breast, and significantly more white on the ventrum. The throats of females are less striped, with fewer, thinner stripes than the males.

The American Robin is highly migratory moving in flocks of hundreds or thousands to lower elevations and latitudes during winter months. They can be found within suburban parks and gardens having benefited from urbanization and agricultural development. Their diets are highly variable following annual cycles consuming invertebrates in the spring and summer and fruits in the autumn and winter. They are easily recognized for their loud musical voice. The American Robin is poorly studied, and their biology and behavioral patterns are not well documented.

The American Robin is an overwintering visitor to Mexico and can be found throughout northern Mexico to Baja California, southern Sonora, southern Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, extreme northern Veracruz, and occasionally in southeastern Veracruz and the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The propinguus subspecies is commonly found in northern Baja California to Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and southwestern Nuevo León. Year-round populations of the phillipsi subspecies can be found in the Mexican Plateau in the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, and southern Hidalgo south to southern Oaxaca.

From a conservation perspective, the American Robin is categorized by the IUCN as Least Concern. However, their populations have strongly been adversely affected by pesticides and other contaminants and toxins.