Aztec Thrush, Ridgwayia pinicola

Aztec Thrush, Ridgwayia pinicola, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, July 2006. Photograph and identification courtesy of Karen LeMay, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The Aztec Thrush, Ridgwayia pinicola, is a member of the Turdidae Family of Thrushes and Allies, that has one hundred seventy-four global species placed in eighteen genera, and is the sole global member of the Ridgwayia Genus. They are known in Mexico as zorzal Azteca.

The Aztec Thrush is mid-sized in stature. They are sexually dimorphic. The males have a very dark brown head, breast, and mantle, transitioning to grayish-white over the underparts; they have a black tail and black wings that are marked with white and buff. The females are similar in color to the males but are slightly paler. Their bill is black and their legs are pink.

The Aztec Thrush is found in humid pine, pine-oak, and pine evergreen forests at elevations above 1,800 m (5,900 feet) and below 3,500 m (11,480 feet). They are exceedingly difficult to see in the wild and are normally located by their song. They can be found in small foraging flocks and at times in mixed-species flocks. They forage in bushes, trees, and on the ground, with their diets including invertebrates, terrestrial insects and their larvae, and seasonal berries and fruits. The Aztec Thrush is poorly studied, and their biology and behavioral patterns are not well documented.

The Aztec Thrush is endemic to western and central Mexico, being year-round residents of Sinaloa. They are known to make short-range seasonal migrations with sightings in the United States and northeast Mexico considered to be extremely rare.

From a conservation perspective, the Aztec Thrush is categorized by the IUCN as Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations.