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MEXICO -- VERACRUZ
4 - 8 January 2006
by Mike Mulligan
Daily Details:
January 3:
I meet my old friend Rick Waldrop at the Houston airport and we fly to
Villahermosa Mexico. After picking up our rental car we drive to Las
Choapas to try for Spot-tailed Nightjar. (Las Choapas is described on
page 212, Site 10.8, in Steve Howell's excellent Bird-finding Guide to
Mexico.) We arrive about 11pm and were unsuccessful, not surprising
considering the time of year. O/N Las Choapas.
January 4:
Drive south on the trans-isthmus highway to the Nava's Wren spot near
Boca del Monte (also called Sarabia, Site 10.7). Following Mr. Howell's
directions we turn off the Uxpanapa Road at km 25.8 and stop at the
karst-outcrop forest on our right. We hear/see several species from the
roadside (Violaceous Trogon, Keel-billed Toucan, Great Kiskadee, Social
Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Spot-breasted Wren, Brown Jay, Lesser
Greenlet, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Rufous-capped Warbler,
Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Crimson-collared Tanager, Olive-backed
Euphonia, Blue-gray Tanager, a few migrants) but hear no Nava's. Rick
crawls down into the forest to look around while I patrol the road.
About 20 minutes later I hear him whisper "I've got the wren." I ease
myself into the brush to join him, and sure enough he is on the bird.
It occasionally makes a soft ticking sound as we watch it forage close
by for 10 or 15 minutes. This is a life bird for both of us -- my only
of the trip -- and should have come on our final day. But we'll take
it.
Returning to Boca del Monte a stop at the river gives us
Rufous-breasted Spinetail, Mangrove Swallow, White-collared Seedeater,
Grayish Saltator and Melodious Blackbird.
We head back north to Los Tuxtlas (Site 10.6) near the gulf coast and
are surprised to find thousands of Lesser Scaup on Lago Catemaco. Also
see Least Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, various herons, Wood Stork, Snail
Kite, Roadside Hawk and Crested Caracara (both along the way), Northern
Jacana, Inca Dove. O/N Hotel Campestre, Catemaco.
January 5:
Early drive out the Montepio road to the UNAM Biological Station. A
Black-and-white Owl hangs around the station and we hear a hooting; not
sure which species. Paraque, three kingfishers, Collared Aracari,
Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, Ivory-billed
Woodcreeper, Bright-rumped Attila (heard), Masked Tityra, Band-backed
Wren, White-breasted Wood-Wren, Clay-colored Robin, Thick-billed
Seedfinch, Yellow-faced Grassquit are all found. Stopping for eggs and
tortillas at the village of Sontecomapan we spot a Red-billed Pigeon on
an overhead wire, apparently scavenging in the tiny square. We continue
around the east side of Lago Catemaco to Miguel Hidalgo.
On the "main" street we find several people looking up the mountainside
with binoculars. They're on a distant White Hawk and I set up my scope
for a better view. Their "guide" tells us of a biosphere reserve uphill
a couple km where we can stay overnight. This is Tuxtla Quail-Dove
country so we carefully negotiate a really bad road to the site. Turns
out the guide works there and a basic room and simple meals are
available. The Mexican family we met watching the White Hawk are
staying also. This was enough business for the "management" to bring in
two guitar players for an after-dinner singalong. Rick borrows a guitar
and sings a couple tunes to the delight of the others. Our solar
powered light dies during the evening ("no sol, no luz") and the rain
begins.
January 6:
The downpour drums through the night against the plastic roof, and in
the morning we decide against the four-hour hike up to the quail-dove
site. Birds seen on trails around the settlement include Collared
Forest-Falcon (heard), Plain Chachalaca, Violet Sabrewing, Slaty-tailed
Trogon, Blue-crowned Motmot, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Hermit and
Golden-crowned Warblers, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Yellow-winged
Tanager, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Montezuma Oropendola, more migrants. A
happy find is a small flock of "Plain-breasted" Brush-Finches. Back at
the tarp-covered kitchen I notice one of the women using a metate to
prepare corn meal for tortillas. I'd never seen one in use before and
she cheerfully allows us to take her picture in action.
Our rental car scrapes and slides back down the primitive trail, and
once on Hwy 180 we aim for Veracruz City. This coastal drive is a vast
wetland, and stops produce Magnificent Frigatebird and 10 species of
shorebirds. We drive through heavy smoke from burning sugar cane
fields, and note a remarkable 40 Aplomado Falcons appearing to flycatch
in the billowing haze. In the wetland meadows we find a group of about
90 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, American Bittern (no Pinnated, darn),
White Ibis, Mexican Duck, Limpkin, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flock,
several Fork-tailed Flycatchers. At Las Barrancas (site 10.5, no
barranca in sight) Rick points out a Double-striped Thick-knee pair
sticking their heads above the grass. Somewhere we add Ladder-backed
Woodpecker and Gray-breasted Martin.
We bypass Veracruz City and continue to Cordoba, O/N Hotel Los Areos.
Good birds on this cold and windy day.
January 7:
Amatlan (site 10.3) is approximately a half-hour south of Cordoba and
is known for resident Sumichrast's (Slender-billed) Wrens. Kim Risen
and I saw the bird at this site in November 2001; then the bird was
singing. I expected no such luck this time. Rick and I walk the trails
for a couple hours, extending beyond the area indicated in the site
guide. The only wrens we find are Spot-breasted and Band-backed, but we
also see Short-tailed Hawk (dark morph), Squirrel Cuckoo,
Stripe-throated Hermit, Ridgeway's Rough-winged Swallow, White-throated
Thrush, Yellow-breasted Chat, Black-headed Saltator. Finally, making
our way back to the car, we locate the Sumichrast's along "the first
few hundred meters of the trail," just as Mr. Howell says. It's a lifer
for Rick and he is delighted. I cannot believe that we've found the two
toughest wrens in the country. In January yet! The wren even starts
singing as we walk away. We return to Amatlan and enjoy a street-food
breakfast in front of an elaborately painted elderly church.
On our way to Coatepec we take a brief rest stop near Huatusco and find
Cassin's Kingbird, Rose-throated Becard, Lesser Goldfinch, Fan-tailed
Warbler and Scrub Euphonia. Coatepec is where we intend a Bearded
Wood-Partridge search. In Site 10.2 Mr. Howell gives the address of
Pedro Mota, a local guide. This is when it's really fun to travel with
Rick. (I first met him in Guatemala about 15 years ago when he was
running an orphanage near Antigua, and we've since birded together from
Alaska to South America.) Rick speaks fluent espanol and is an
absolutely fearless driver. He seems to have a town memorized before we
arrive, and easily finds Sr. Mota's house in a maze of un-named one-way
streets. I am bewildered by this talent. Sr. Mota will send his
biologist son, Claudio, out with us in the morning to look for the rare
wood-partridge.
We can't locate a restaurant so buy a roasted chicken on the street for
dinner. It's delicious. In the evening the streets are filled with
groups of residents carrying lit candles, making their way toward the
churches. It's the night that the baby Jesus is ceremonially taken out
of the manger. O/N Hotel Lerda, $15US for the room and the meanest
guard dog in town.
January 8:
Claudio leads us through several coffee plantations outside of town. We
park and begin a strenuous hike straight up the mountainside. It's darn
cold but I warm up fast. The first 300 meters are steeper than I like
(I'm puffing), but finally the trail gentles a bit. Claudio whistles
softly for the birds as we gain altitude. After several hours of this
we return to the car, partridge-less. We do find a perched Mottled Owl
for consolation. Others seen on the mountain include Wedge-tailed
Sabrewing, White-bellied Emerald, Azure-crowned Hummingbird, Acorn
Woodpecker, Gray Silky-flycatcher flocks, Slate-colored Solitaire,
Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer.
Our next stop is Colonia Francisco Barrios, Site 10.4, where a small
disjunct population of Mexican Sheartail resides. We walk this lowland
thorn forest for an hour, trying to avoid 40 kinds of sharp and prickly
plant life. Eventually we locate one sheartail coming to a pear cactus
blossom. Resident species seen are Laughing Falcon, Northern Bobwhite,
Common Ground-Dove, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Hooded Oriole. Migrants
include Northern Mockingbird and Loggerhead Shrike.
We've a long drive to Villahermosa and stop at only a couple wetlands
along the toll road. We are out of pesos, but a toll booth operator
says the next booth will take US dollars. WRONG. Rick argues and pleads
as the Sunday traffic piles up behind us. Huge trucks blare their
horns. Car drivers shake their fists. Toll booth person holds firm.
Eventually we back down the shoulder -- against the traffic -- and into
a Pemex (gas) station, where we pay an exhorbitant rate for some pesos.
We make it to Villahermosa with a couple liters to spare. Rick locates
a cash machine which promptly eats his bank card, but we find a cheap
hotel (Ritz) that takes credit cards. In bed by 11:30, dead tired.
Up early the next morning, at the airport by 6:30, fly home. We had a
lot of fun, saw some beautiful country and birds, ate some great food,
slept in some strange places (just a normal birding trip). Rick
finished with several lifers and a bunch of new country birds. I added
8 to my country list, finally arriving at 700.
Can't wait to get back.
(The above is not a complete list of birds seen.)
Mike Mulligan
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
potoo@shaw.ca