I had missed some species during my first trip to eastern
Chiapas a few years ago. These mainly fell into two camps: Straight-up misses
and a group of easy-to-hear but difficult-to-see species such as tinamous. I
was hoping that the latter group might be a bit more responsive to playback
than in the winter but that proved to be a vain hope. Realistically, I need to
return in the rainy season, when breeding activity peaks.
When I had begun to plan the trip, I discovered that the
classic birding locations at Bonampak and Xaxchilan were not currently
accessible to tourists because cartels were operating heavily in the area to
detain would-be-USA immigrants and force them to pay for passage to the USA. As
a result, I focused my trip on a visit to Naha, where the local birder, Miguel
Garcia Cruz (+52 916 164 3094 on Whatsapp), said things were OK. Naturally,
after making all the arrangements and bookings, there was a change in the
presidential administration in the USA. The new Trump administration removed
the incentive for immigrants to try to reach the USA and the cartels promptly
abandoned their presence at the border. The sites were now open again but a
two-to-three-hour one-way drive away from Naha. Given the need to be on site at
dawn, this really precluded visiting them, especially as we had a fair amount
of night-birding to do around Naha.
On arrival at Naha, we checked into the eco-lodge and met up
with Miguel. Miguel is a forest ranger and his job description includes
escorting visiting birders around – a pretty good gig if you are a birder like
him! For those of you contemplating a visit to Naha, it’s important to note
that native communities or ejidos often do not allow visitors to freely wonder
around on their lands. There is usually a need for a permit and sometimes, as
in the case of Naha, a guide as well. Having that guide be a highly
knowledgeable birder like Miguel is obviously a big plus.
Naha lies in the hills and has a slightly different mix of
species to somewhere like Bonampak, which is more classic lowland rainforest.
My key goal was to see Tawny-collared Nightjar. This species is mostly known as
a NE Mexico endemic, but there is an isolated population here. I had heard
something like 10 birds during my visit to Tamaulipas but failed to even get a
glimpse of a silhouette. In addition, Naha had a few desirable species that
don’t occur at lowland sites like Bonampak, including Crested and Spectacled
Owls, Stripe-throated Hummingbird and Spotted Wood-Quail. Paul and I had great
looks at Spectacled Owl in Oaxaca on a recent trip so that species was not a
priority, but the others certainly were. Spotted Wood-Quail was an original
member of the ‘heard-only gang’ and, to my misfortune, comfortably maintained
that membership on this trip.
In addition to the resident forest species, Naha offered
some additional possibilities for north American migrants since species that
follow the ‘circum-gulf’ route naturally avoid the Yucatan Peninsula, which is
a dead-end for birds unwilling to fly directly across the gulf. A few of these
would be Mexico ticks for me and more would be lifers for Paul.
The late afternoon and evening session brought an immediate
success as I finally saw Stripe-tailed Hummingbird well, after getting
‘untickable’ views during my first visit. Other new species for the trip
included Bat Falcon, Guatemalan Tyrant, White-collared Mannakin, Green and
Red-legged Honeycreeper, Streak-headed Woodcreeper and Bananaquit. Distant
calling Slaty-breasted and Great Tinamous, Highland Guan and Spotted Wood-Quail
set an unwanted pattern for the remainder of our stay. After seeing one very
briefly in the Yucatan, we were pleased to have more prolonged views of
Swallow-tailed Kites, which have a resident population in the hills of eastern
Chiapas. Our first night-birding session yielded only a couple of heard-only
Tawny-collared Nightjars.
The next morning, we divided our time between playing
mobbing tapes for migrant flocks and targeting specific resident species. I was
delighted to find my first Golden-winged Warbler for Mexico, and my first
anywhere for 25 years. Residents included Rufous Piha, Rufous Mourner,
Double-toothed Kite, Green Shrike-Vireo and White-breasted Hawk – the
distinctive local race of Sharp-shinned Hawk often regarded as a full species. These
were all birds I had only seen once or twice previously and mostly new for
Paul.
Lunch at the restaurant proved productive for birding with a
singing Scaly-breasted Hummingbird holding territory on the slope above the
road and a pair of Olive-backed Euphonia building a nest right outside the
window.
In the late afternoon, we headed over to area with some
pines and scrubby forest since Paul needed Grace’s Warbler, a species I had
seen many times further north in western Mexico, Arizona and California. We
quickly found one and a massive bonus was my life Black-crested Coquette – a male
that perched in a low tree to give nice looks. Cabanis’s Wren was another good
bird I had only seen a couple of times before.
The night-birding session went to a different spot for the
nightjar and this time we at least saw the bird in flight. We followed this up
with great looks at a Middle American Screech-Owl, but this was eclipsed by
prolonged views of the spectacular Crested Owl. We had seen this on our Oaxaca
trip, but Paul had only got ‘untickable’ views.
The next day began with a tropical flycatcher theme. We got
good looks at a Royal Flycatcher, although naturally did not see the crest, and
then a pair of Slate-headed Tody-Flycatchers and an Ochre-bellied Flycatcher. At the same location, we finally got a look at
the ever-skulking White-breasted Wood-Wren. After that, we cleaned up some
hitherto missing species such as Azure-crowned and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds,
Spotted Woodcreeper, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Variable Seedeater,
Blue-Black and Black-faced Grosbeak as well as some of the commoner tanagers
that prefer more open habitat such as Blue-gray, Yellow-winged and
Golden-hooded. We also successfully targeted (Northern) Plain Xenops, a species I had only
seen poorly on my previous trip. Other nice sightings included King Vulture, Collared
Aracari and Keel-billed Toucan, Chestnut-headed Oropendola and Collared Trogon.
The evening night-birding finally yielded excellent perched views of Tawny-collared Nightjar and was capped by a Black-and-White Owl – only my second and a lifer for Paul.
The next day, we left early to drive down to Palenque – some
well-known ruins that are surrounded by lowland rain forest. The best trail
requires a guide, but since we had Miguel with us, we were covered on that
front. An unavoidable issue was that the ruins do not open until 8 AM, meaning
that the best birding hours are already done by the time you start. A big
advantage of Palenque is that the forest is completely protected with no
hunting. As a result, doves and tinamous are a bit more common and less shy
than locations like Naha.
On the way, we stopped in some mixed agricultural and
cut-over forest areas. We heard three Striped Cuckoos but could not see one.
Sulphur-breasted and Piratic Flycatchers and Buff-throated Saltator were all
good additions to the trip list.
Walking the trails, we had a Ruddy Quail-Dove standing on the edge of the trail and then very good views of a pair of Great Currasow. This certainly confirmed that the shyer species were easier to see at Palenque, but we had no visuals of the forest doves or tinamous. We did well for lowland forest hummingbirds with a White-necked Jacobin and leks of Long-tailed Hermit and Violet Sabrewing. Other nice lowland forest additions were Dusky Antbirds and a pair of Slaty-tailed Trogons. I saw the only Kentucky Warbler of the trip, but Paul could unfortunately not get on to what would have been a life bird. A much better migrant was a large, rather rufous nightjar we flushed – my first Chuck-will’s-widow in Mexico.
The next day, we were back birding around Naha, where we
headed down a trail into an area where Black-throated Shrike-Tanager were
present. Although we had a couple of birds respond well to playback, we were
unable to see them high up in the canopy. However, the hike down proved well
worthwhile as we were able to get good looks at perched White Hawk and Barred
Forest-Falcon as well as finally seeing Northern Schiffornis, a lifer for Paul.
A new migrant were two Blue-winged Warblers, and some additional residents for
the trip were an Orange-billed Sparrow and Red-capped Mannakin, while we had
excellent looks at both male and female Stripe-tailed Hummingbird,
White-bellied Emerald and Azure-crowned Hummingbird.
The next morning, we headed lower down to Metzabok. An early
attempt for Striped Cuckoo ended in more frustration with just a couple of
heard only birds. Working our way through some patches of lowland rainforest,
we saw a nice selection of vireos, with Yellow-green, Red-eyed, Yellow-throated
and Philadelphia, the last a Mexico tick for me, and another Orange-billed
Sparrow. In Metzabok itself, we spent some time looking for Blue Ground-Doves
and were ultimately successful. I finally caught up with another lifer with
brief looks at a couple of Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts that flashed by as we
checked a feeding flock of White-collared Swifts. As the day warmed up, we saw
both Swallow-tailed and Plumbeous Kites soaring over the pueblo. A Rusty
Sparrow was a new trip bird.
We then tried again at a nearby area for the cuckoo and
eventually got one to respond. Given how skulking the species was proving to be,
this time Miguel did the playback about 15 yards away from us. We eventually
tempted the bird to show about eight feet up in tree right in front of us. We
had good naked eye views, but the bird moved off as soon as it saw us.
A bit of birding in the early evening at Naha around the
pueblo turned up a cracking male Crimson-collared Tanager.
On our last full day at Naha, we only had a few priorities
to look for. We finally got decent looks at Short-billed Pigeon, while a pair
of Red-lored Parrots were a nice complement to the White-crowned Parrots we had
been seeing most days at Naha. For me, the most exciting moment occurred when
our mobbing playback brought in a cracking male Cerulean Warbler, one of the
few “eastern” warblers I still needed in Mexico and a species I had not see in
over a decade. A male Blue Bunting was a surprise find as they are not
typically present around Naha. We had only seen a couple of female
Scarlet-rumped Tanagers up to this point, so a male was very welcome. The last
species we made a specific attempt for with Miguel was Tody Motmot and we were
able to find a pair and get quite good looks.
On our final morning, we spent an hour or so wandering
around the trails near the ecolodge hoping to run into a wood-quail or tinamou.
We did find the second Golden-winged Warbler for the trip. After that, it was
time to embark on the long drive back to Cancun, which we had broken up with
some additional stops to catch up on any missing species.
Comments
Post a Comment