By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Rufous-backed Robin, a rare visitor from western Mexico, has made another unexpected appearance in the Rincon Del Diablo along the San Felipe Creek.
I didn’t have much time to bird on Sunday morning, so I headed down to the Rincon at the end of Magnolia and Barron streets to spend an hour or so in the field.
I was happy to see that many of our summer birds are returning – Barn Swallows, Bell’s Vireos and Hooded Orioles.
I was standing in a dry field in the center of the Rincon when I noticed a bird fly into the very top of the pecan at the entrance to the area. I glanced at it through my binoculars and saw that it was some type of thrush.
At first I thought it might by one of the Clay-colored Thrushes that have been hanging around this area of the creek and slightly farther upstream for the past few years. I took a few photos and played a Clay-colored Thrush song, hoping to lure the bird closer for a better shot.
The bird seemed annoyed at the Clay-colored song and flew to another pecan tree about 50 yards from me, closer to the creek. I took several more photos, but when I enlarged them on the camera’s viewfinder to make sure they were in focus, I realized this was a Rufous-backed Robin, not a Clay-colored Thrush at all.
Before I could take any more photos, the bird flew across the creek, toward a stand of chinaberry trees growing on the far bank.
I’ve seen this bird in the Rincon on only one previous occasion, from Dec. 22 to Dec. 26 of 2015.
Rufous-backed Robins are endemic to the Pacific Coast region of western Mexico in the states of Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacan and are “very rare to casual winter visitors” to the Trans-Pecos and South Texas Brush Country.
According to Audubon.org, this species was first recorded in the U.S. in 1960, but has been a regular visitor since it was first recorded.
Rufous-backed Robins have been seen in a number of occasions around Texas, including several places in the lower Rio Grande Valley, including Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Hidalgo and the National Butterfly Center in Mission.
They’ve also been seen in Kenedy, Uvalde, Edwards, Bastrop, San Angelo State Park and Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Randall.
In the U.S., though, the Rufous-backed Robin has been seen most often in southern Arizona. It has also been spotted in New Mexico and California.
I texted my friend Connie Hoke and asked her to announce the sighting on the internet; she’s much more proficient at that sort of thing than I am.
I will be making several more visits to the Rincon in the coming week to see if I can find this bird again.
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Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
