This is the final postings covering a recent trip to Southern
Mexico with Jon Hornbuckle, Brian Foster and Rod Martins. Eric Antonio Martinez of
Mexico-Birding Tours (http://mexico-birding.com)
expertly guided us around in his Jeep Compass. Our last five days were spent
from Oaxaca to the coast at Huatulco mostly along Highway 175.
3 March. Eric was outside the hostel at 06:00,
as arranged, and we drove into the foothills behind Teotitlan. It was Eric’s home town and it had been an
hour’s round trip for him to come into Oaxaca to collect us. We started birding
by a small reservoir on the edge of town seeing Reddish Egret, Killdeer,
Wilson’s Snipe, Say’s Phoebe and Curve-billed Thrasher. We continued up into
the dry hills and soon found some superb Bridled Sparrows as well as Rufous-crowned
and another Oaxaca feeding along the edge of the track. In the scrub we saw West
Mexican Chachalacas, Grey-breasted Woodpecker, the Sumichrest race of
Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Virginia’s and Black-throated Grey
Warblers and Painted Redstart but two singing Blue Mockingbirds remained in
cover. At 10:45 we returned to Teotitlan and birded an open area on the edge of
town where we saw a confiding Rufous-backed Thrush and some superb Boucard’s
Wrens as well as more sparrows - Lark, Vespers, Clay-coloured and a secretive (and for me flight views only) Grasshopper. We had brunch nearby –a superbly located restaurant with rear
windows that overlooked a wild garden that provided excellent photo
opportunities. I woofed down an omelette and spent most of my
time at the window. We left at 12:15 and drove along highway 175 climbing up to
San Jose del Pacifico. It was pleasantly
cool although rather cloudy. We birded along the road seeing Rufous and
White-eared Hummingbirds, Green Violetear, Grey Silky Flycatcher, American
Robin, Audubon’s Oriole and for me male Hooded Yellowthroat. The low clouds over
nearby hillsides had looked threatening for some time and at 17:30 they rolled
in and it started raining heavily putting paid to our hopes of looking for
night birds. The weather convinced me it was not worth venturing out for an evening
meal but having a wood fire lit in our room was most welcome.
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| hills above Teotitlan |
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| Reddish Egret on the small reservoir there |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| White-winged Dove |
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| Greater Pewee |
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| Bridled Sparrow habitat above Teotitlan |
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| Bridled Sparrow |
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| one of the smartest sparrows I have seen |
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| Rufous-crowned Sparrow |
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| Oaxaca Sparrow |
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| another irresistible Bridled Sparrow |
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| higher up |
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| young Red-tailed Hawk |
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| looking back down at Teotitlan and the small reservoir where we had started the day |
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| Grey-breasted Woodpecker, opposite the reservoir on our return |
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| Rufous-backed Thrush |
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| Lark Sparrow |
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| the view from one of the restaurant's windows |
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| Curve-billed Thrasher |
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| Dusky Hummingbird |
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| Ladder-backed Woodpecker |
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| hiding |
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| eyes closed at point of impact |
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| Boucard's Wren |
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| White-throated Towhee |
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| In Eric's motor. It was easier to doze off in the back, we all did it. It was easier staying awake in the front and I saw 6 Loggerhead Shrikes on telephone wires while we were travelling to our next destination. |
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| the Pacific slope |
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| San Jose del Pacifico |
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| Rod and my room, fire lit, the untidy bed is mine, Rod out to dinner |
4 March. It rained hard for most of the night
but cleared up just before dawn enabling us to try for nightbirds. We gathered on our veranda and a Whiskered
Screech Owl called once but could not be enticed to do more while a more vocal Mexican
Whip–poor-will responded but failed to come in. We followed a track towards it but were not close enough to tempt it to show. Disappointing. We spent all day in the
area, mostly birding along the road which was not too busy. We saw good numbers
of birds but of rather limited species. Highlights were Bumblebee, Rufous and
White-eared Hummingbirds, Brown-backed Solitaire, Ruddy-capped Nightingale
Thrush, White-throated and Aztec Thrush (although I missed the latter), Scott’s
Oriole and Blue Mockingbird (good for me to see at last). Warblers were well
represented with a couple of flowering trees by the road full of mainly Audubon's, Nashville and Townsend's. The Hooded Yellowthroat showed briefly again and we saw another Red Warbler, 2 MacGillivray’s and a Golden-browed. The weather had been better and
it stayed that way until dusk when we had more success with Mexican
Whip-poor-will, seeing one perched in torchlight. The Whiskered Screech Owl, if
it was still around, remained silent.
5 March. We heard the Mexican Whip-poor-will and a distant Mottled Owl from our veranda at dawn and birded the road and a
short trail above it until 09:45. We disturbed three Aztec Thrushes from beside the road early on and mostly
saw similar birds to the previous day. We had breakfast and left at 10:25, continuing
on Highway 175 making a few stops and taking a short diversion in the pine
forest which produced a superb Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo. We continued
descending towards the coast, stopping every so often and briefly encountered
another British birding group by the roadside. Brian knew them and had been
invited on their trip but had already committed to Jon’s more
budget oriented one. One difference was immediately obvious – we were
manageably crammed into Eric’s Jeep while four of them appeared to be rattling
around in a large minibus. I knew where I’d rather be and at that particular
point in time we looked more cheerful too. Following the main road through the
centre of one of the larger towns we found the road ahead blocked. A Circus was
in town and many of the roads around the centre had been closed. Eric
eventually found his way around along a succession of back-streets, a diversion
not appearing to be sign-posted at all. We finished the day birding in dry forest on the edge
of Huatulco Golf Course for the last hour of light and then drove into town
where we stayed a short distance from the main square at the Posada Michelle.
We had covered a range of habitats during the day, starting in damp montane pine forest and ending in very dry habitat near the coast. I had seen about 80
species of which 11 were new. Highlights not mentioned above were Magnificent,
White-eared, Berylline, Cinnamon and Bumblebee Hummingbirds, Golden-crowned
Emerald, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Citreoline Trogon, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker,
Pine Flycatcher, Steller’s and very brief and unsatisfactory White-throated
Jays, Blue Mockingbird, Slaty and Golden Vireos, Ruddy-capped Nightingale
Thrush, 2 more Red and a Hermit Warbler and Black-headed Siskin. We saw 6
species of oriole including Spot-breasted but I found most of them rather
confusing.
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| Zone-tailed Hawk |
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| Grey Silky Flycatcher |
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| mountain village |
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| White-throated Magpie Jay |
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| they were common when we reached the dry coastal forest |
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| Golden-cheeked Woodpecker |
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| Russet-crowned Motmot |
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| Citreoline Trogon |
6 March. We left the posada at 05:15, made a
coffee stop and headed inland into the foothills. We were back on Highway 175 revisiting
some of the lower elevation sites we had been to the previous day. We negotiated
the circus road closures without difficulty and birded various areas along the
roadside to about 11:30 by which time it was quite hot. We had a brunch stop and remained in the area to mid-afternoon, keeping in the shade as much
as possible. Along the highway we saw Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Oaxaca (Blue-headed)
Hummingbird, Long-billed Startthroat, Wagler’s Toucanet, Grey-crowned
Woodpecker, Bat Falcon, Flammulated Atilla, Golden Vireo, Happy Wren Orange-billed
Nightingale Thrush, Fan-tailed and MacGillivray’s Warblers, Northern Hepatic
and Flame-coloured Tanagers and a male Orange-breasted Bunting. We were targeting three hummingbirds that Jon needed (all were new for me too). Eric had seen two of them, Cinnamon-sided and
Mexican Hermit, infrequently in the areas where we were looking but try as we might,
including a rather hopeful call on my part, we were unsuccessful. The third hummingbird Jon was after was Doubleday’s
which was common on the coast, although we had failed to find it the previous
evening. We returned to Huatulco to try for it again, stopping briefly by a roadside pond, where we
had superb views of a flock of 40 Vaux’s Swifts as they skimmed low over the
water to drink, and on a narrow bridge over a small river. We parked in a
rather posh neighbourhood of Huatulco that backed onto the National Park and
followed a track into the dry forest. It was rather quiet, with more birds
around the houses at the start. We saw West Mexican Chachalaca, Russet-crowned
Motmot, Sclater’s Wren, Olive Sparrow and more Orange-breasted Buntings before
returning to our posada at 18:30 as the light was going. Doubleday’s
Hummingbirds were most noticeable by their absence. Looking for hummingbirds
was proving very frustrating. They are so much easier to see when coming
to feeders although Eric pointed out some big drawbacks that I hadn't really considered– a sugar-rich diet can
lead to diabetes while plants go unpollenated if hummingbirds don’t need to visit
them.
7 March. We left the posada at 05:45, made a
coffee stop and drove to a higher entrance to the National Park for dawn. It
was a good area for Buff-collared Nightjar at the right season but we were a
bit early and none responded. We had a good vantage point and saw a pair of Pale-billed Woodpeckers and an Ivory-billed Woodcreeper being careful not to mix up teir names! A few parrots were flying over but all those we
saw were White-fronted. We soon saw the first of several Doubleday’s Hummingbirds and wondered how we had missed them the previous evening. We slowly walked
along a narrow dry track into the National Park and were passed by a few locals
heading for a secluded beach. We headed that way too seeing a reasonable selection of birds including Colima and Ferruginous
Owls, Thick-billed Kingbird, Banded and Happy Wrens, Red-crowned
Ant-Tanager, 3 Red-breasted Chats and more Orange-breasted Buntings. We ran out of time and turned back before reaching the beach, leaving the park at 11:30. Eric was staying
another night before the long drive back to Oaxaca where he was meeting other clients so once back at the posada we put our bags in his
room and checked out of ours. We had brunch in a restaurant opposite then drove
to a lighthouse on the coast where Magnificent Frigatebirds were cruising by at
head height. Our final birding site was a wet area on the edge of a golf course
and after an ice cream stop we picked up our bags. Eric dropped us at the
airport just before 16:00, he had been a brilliant guide making it a very
successful and enjoyable trip and we were sad to say goodbye. Hopefully it would be hasta la vista. Our flight was at 18:25 and left on time. A
spectacular sunset over the clouds about Huatulco was almost matched by the
lights of Mexico City as we came in to land. We arrived at 19:45 and were
bused to the main terminal. Our international flight departed on time just
before midnight. As it had been on the way out we each had three seats to stretch out
on. It seemed strange the flights had been so under subscribed considering they were reasonably priced and we found AeroMexico a good airline. Not that I was complaining as spent much of the night flight sleeping horizontally, a rare luxury and better than an upgrade!. We arrived at Heathrow a bit
early, were quickly through immigration and my bag was waiting for me, as was a
tube. I arrived at Victoria two hours before my train home to Shoreham, and probably caught a
cold waiting on the platform. Megan was waiting for me at the station and I was home at 20:45.
It had been a very
enjoyable trip due in no small part to Eric’s expert guiding and the companionship
of Brian, Jon and Rod. Many thanks to them all, and also Jorge and Amy for
making us so welcome at El Triunfo.
