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Birding in Mexico is not like birding in the United States… especially when it comes to interpreting unusual sightings. Howell does not place the White-tailed Hawk anywhere near Morelia, but I have seen it in every cuadrant of the city, and know for a fact that it breeds near the church I pastor.
The Indigo was even on its way to becoming my default species for any indescript female LBJ. But, until 2020, I almost never saw it, which is frustrating with such a loud species. It is one of those interesting few species that winter in South America, but only migrate as far north as Mexico to breed.
Between our many residents and migratory species, birding in central Mexico is a joy. But throughout central Mexico, Bluebirds may be either Eastern or Western , year-round. In some parts of Mexico, the same applies for Meadowlarks , although in the end I decided that those in my specific area all seem to be Eastern.
These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains. Photo by Andrew Spencer.
Unlike the more common American Goldfinch, the Lesser Goldfinch’s ( Spinus psaltria ) plumage does not change color during breeding season. Eastward, frequency of individuals with black on auriculars, neck, and back increases; southward into Mexico, nearly all adult males have completely black upperparts 1.
A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For the nature lovers and birders who participate in breeding bird surveys, the atlas represents hours, often hundreds of hours, of volunteer time spent within a community of citizen scientists doing what they love, observing birds. So, what exactly does a breeding bird atlas contain?
There’s a new proposal before the American Ornithologists’ Union’s North American Classification Committee to split Painted Bunting into two species (yay! — maybe, more later) and to name the new species “Eastern Painted Bunting” and “Western Painted Bunting” (no!).
North America is home to many amazing bird species, including several which require a special effort to see and appreciate. In the summer, they are the highest altitude breeding songbird in North America. New Mexico Nature & Culture. So let’s look at this sampler, shall we? So let’s look at this sampler, shall we?
One of the ways I could describe the unique mix of birds I can see here in southwestern Mexico, would be to divide our species into five categories. The invasive species are few, but, unfortunately, very numerous. But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much.
En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way.
When I got back into birding about six years ago, I would not have predicted the personal bonds a birder can form with certain species. While all birds bring us joy, and we certainly want to see as many as we can, some species just seem more… special. I’ll start with two species that are especially hard to find.
This sort of biozone mixing can create a tremendous richness of species. Each of these habitats attracts its own group of species. I mentioned last week the Jamaican Nettletree, whose tiny fruit was attracting all kinds of species — even some I thought did not eat fruit or seeds. This one was a true lifer for me.
Perhaps one of my reasons for going to the lake was that it guarantees more species in one day than any of my other sites. But I am also always eager to get a better handle on the migration dates for our wintering species, and April is a great month for that. How on earth do they breed so quickly up north?)
As I have mentioned repeatedly over the past months, life this spring has gone topsy-turvy in central Mexico, as we experience what has certainly been one of our driest years in history. I have now seen the species in eight different years. Of course, Paso Ancho is also a hotspot for many other beautiful species and endemics.
Cedar Waxwing: For most birders in Mexico, 2021 will be remembered as the year of the Waxwings. I had only seen this species once here, in 2018. Virginia Warbler: The Virginia Warbler is a common species in the thorn forest of the Balsas River Basin, so I had seen it often. How did I miss that? I don’t care. In my garden!
Those infinitely patient saints who read all my ramblings know that over the past year I have been obsessed with the gradual disappearance of Mexico’s second-largest lake, Lake Cuitzeo, just north of my home city of Morelia. The good news is that this summer central Mexico is experiencing its best rains since 2018.
Of course, I also go there several other times each year; I have, after all, seen 160 species at this endemic-rich site. The reason for this annual pilgrimage is a single species, the Sinaloa Martin. All sightings southeast of the species’ Puerto Vallarta-to-Los Mochis breeding area are of migrating birds.
These species are not only beautiful or charming, but have a personal resonance for me. It turns out this species is very difficult to see — everywhere except in my territory, since to date I have now seen it 64 times within an hour of Morelia. But I will still provide one.)
Isla Isabel, a picturesque volcanic island situated 15 miles off Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit coast, is just such a place. It was made a National Park in the 1980s and is a major breeding and nesting area for over 30,000 seabirds. The frigates are by far the most numerous and evident of the island’s nesting species.
For us, it’s all about birds moving north during the warm season to breed, and south to escape the winter cold. Those that move south to Mexico in the fall come as much for the abundance of winter food sources, as for winter warmth. On that occasion I counted 40 individuals from 10 different species.
When a birder uses the word, we usually refer to a species that canbe mostly or exclusively found in a single country. Which means that the large country of Mexico boasts (according to one list) 127 endemic bird species, while the famous birders’ destination of Costa Rica has only 6. It doesn’t seem fair at all.
While I often tease Corey about how many albatrosses we have down here in New Zealand, the fact is that the United States has three species of Albatross that breed within its boundaries, albeit one of them only very rarely, and visit the western shores of North America. It is also a very attractive bird, as I hope you will agree.
Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern North America. And the Baltimore Oriole is an iconic eastern bird, which winters along Mexico’s east coast, but never in the west. Then, around 4:00 p.m.,
The Montana Field Guide, a helpful online compendium provided by the state government, lists seven species. Three of those — the Black-chinned , Calliope , and Rufous Hummingbirds — breed in the Missoula area. I examine the species accounts in detail, searching for clues. It breeds into Alaska.
The only one that occurs in western Mexico, where I live, is the Gray-breasted Wood-Wren. It’s a long drive, at least an hour of steadily climbing twists and turns; but there are high-altitude species I can only see there. I was not disappointed, as four FOY (First Of Year) species turned up.
American White Pelicans spend their winter months along the Gulf states, California, parts of Arizona, and Mexico down into Central America. They migrate north through the Western United States, breeding in pockets all the way up through Canada. No matter how many times I see them, this particular species remains breathtaking.
For, in birder lingo, a split occurs when subspecies are determined to be, in fact, entirely separate species. If you happen to have seen both species, your life list can increase without you even leaving the house. Two former species can also be joined into one, the same way. And there was great rejoicing thoughout the land!)
Warbling Vireos are found breeding in open deciduous woods, often riparian, across Mexico, the United States, and southern Canada. Their fondness for open woods means that they often adapt well to breeding in parks and it was Van Saun Park in New Jersey’s Bergen County that I found the individual shown in this blog post.
The species ranges widely across the Pacific, as its scientific name suggests, from the Revillagigedo Islands off Mexico to the Japanese Bonin Islands to New South Wales in Australia. In the air you can see the wedged tail that gives the species its name. I’ll do a post on this special little shearwater later on.
Although I had seen these birds several times before, always in this same area, I had certainly never achieved “the” photo one desires for each species. I rarely dedicate an entire post to just one species, so I’ll throw in a few very colorful Tanagers as a bonus. This species, however, sticks around to breed.
Pallas’s Gull also breeds at Qinghai Lake, though the numbers are sadly much reduced: “The numbers breeding at L Qinghai, China, has apparently fallen from > 87,000 in 1970s to c. Not the kind of behavior that makes a management consultant like me appreciate a species. 15,000 in 2006” (HBW). sleeping, 5.7%
The most common one, Manila tamarind, is wildly inaccurate, since the tree is native to southwestern Mexico, not Manila, and its only connection to tamarind trees is that both are in different subfamilies of the huge legume family. What I didn’t realize, at the time, was that this pulp is also enjoyed by many bird species.
Jonathan is originally from San Blas on Mexico’s west coast, a birder’s paradise I have yet to visit. Snowy Plovers also breed half an hour north of my home, so we have those in common. With so few birding “boots on the ground”, many of Mexico’s best spots are yet to be discovered. Feast your eyes.
The Yellow-throated Warbler is a wood-warbler that breeds almost exclusively in the southeastern United States. They winter in Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.
Walking along a dirt track next to a prairie, my friend and I were on the look-out for different sparrow species when a large bird suddenly darted into the clearing. In fact, they are central to many Mexican and Native American spiritual beliefs, and have been named the state bird of New Mexico.
Yes, the birding is truly exciting but we just don’t have the annual parade of breeding plumaged, singing warblers, grosbeaks, and orioles. Yes, the same species as the ones that birders pine for in the borderlands even though the ones in Costa Rica have yellow bellies. Slate-throated Redstart. Rufous-capped Warbler.
I am only responding to my subjective impression of a single species’ appearance here; specifically, that of the Bronzed Cowbird. Especially when I compare it with the other cowbird present in central Mexico, the Brown-headed Cowbird. In contrast, the Brown-headed Cowbird is a same-continent invasive species.
They are a non-migratory species found in western coniferous and mixed-coniferous forests, breeding from Alaska, western Canada, and the United States south through western Mexico to Nicaragua.
Most of our readers are not likely to be able to ID this bird, because it only occurs in Mexico and Guatemala. But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th).
When our local government called for Michoacán’s residents to stay at home, I said goodbye to some 250 regional species, and shut myself in at home with the other 30 that regularly visit my neighborhood. And on this particular trip, I could see all these species on a single kind of tree. And what species!
I truly do hope I am not tiring 10,000 Birds’ readers too much with my obsession with Michoacán’s ongoing drought, the disappearance of Lake Cuitzeo (Mexico’s 2nd largest lake, in normal years), and our own micro-endemic Black-polled Yellowthroat. But obsessed I am. And it brought friends.
We will have posts on a variety of individual species of wood-warblers, wood-warbler taxonomy, searches for difficult-to-find wood-warblers, and a host of other topics. Many other non-migratory wood-warbler species are living their lives across the neotropics, doing their best to survive and pass on their genes.
My area of central Mexico is rich in Hummingbird species, but I do not know any places that are year-round sure things for large numbers of Hummers. Which, it turns out, suits one Hummingbird species just fine. Still, when a site gets good, it really gets good! I was surrounded by loud, piercing EEP!
and Canada and winter in northeastern Mexico, while the sedentary wrens of central Mexico, Central America, and South America are now to be identified as Grass Wrens. But its two mixed-breed children would make an 80’s British soccer club proud, with their punk hairstyles. It is quite old, and quite, well, hairless.
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