To my knowledge, there are only two records of Rufous-backed Robin in the state of New Mexico in all recorded history, and both of them were in Socorro County. Makes me wonder why no one is seeing them closer to Arizona. The other record, by the way, is at the home of the redoubtable Pat Basham, a local bird artist who has seen a long string of truly incredible records in her yard, such as Groove-billed Ani, Swallow-tailed Kite, and just about every warbler there is.
But the second Rufous-backed Robin was a delight to many as it stayed put and easy to find for several weeks in December 1989. Here are some photos I took on 1989-12-21.
When first discovered, the bird was visiting a dog's water
dish every twenty minutes or so at the Bosque Bird Watcher's RV
Park, a very pleasant little RV park catering to birders and
located right on S.R. 1 at the north border of the Bosque del
Apache NWR south of San Antonio, NM. The first photo shows
the bird perched on the fence, ready to descend for a drink,
and the second shows him in mid-jump; note the rufous underwing.
And here is the famous water dish:
This view shows the distinctive throat streaking:
A view of the back and crown:
Here's a closeup of the head, showing the bill color and
the red eyering:
