For the first time since my trip around the world in 2015, I left the country. My family and I went on a nine day trip to Mexico visiting 3 cities, Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende and Oaxaca. I somehow managed to go on 5 birding trips, the most I have ever gone on during a vacation. With more experience and more birding opportunities, I picked up 135 species on my trip, more than than I did in Panama in 2015. We started off our trip with 2 nights in Mexico City and I was very lucky to be staying in a hotel next to a good park for birding, Bosque de Chapultepec. Here are some photos of the birds I saw...
A bird that can also commonly be found in Illinois, NORTHERN SHOVELER:
A bird that can also commonly be found in Illinois, NORTHERN SHOVELER:
Juvenile HERMIT WARBLER:
A HERMIT THRUSH taking a drink:
My favorite part of birding this park was seeing large numbers of warblers. Warblers are the most colorful family of birds in North America, and one of my favorite. Most of North America's warblers pass through Illinois every spring on their way to their breeding grounds in Canada and the northern U.S. After breeding in the summer, the warblers pass back through Illinois in the fall to escape the cold and spend the winter in the southern U.S, Mexico and Central America. So for me, seeing these warblers was extra special because not only are they beautiful, but they remind me of spring and warmer weather. In Mexico City we found many species of warblers, including Wilson's, Black Throated Green, Hermit, Townsend's, Yellow Rumped, Nashville, Orange Crowned, Black and White and my first ever BLACK THROATED GRAY WARBLER. This was my favorite bird I saw in Mexico City.
After 2 days in the city, we drove 3 hours north to the small mountain town of San Miguel de Allende. San Miguel de Allende has a population of about 60,000 people and is a popular tourist and retirement destination for Americans. I would say overall I enjoyed my experience here more than anywhere else in Mexico. I have always preferred small cities where I can get all of my resources yet still be close to nature; San Miguel de Allende was prefect for this because I really enjoyed the city and there were great birds. I did two birding trips here in very different habitats which provided a greater species variation. On our 2nd morning here I birded around Rio Laja, a lake surrounded by great bird habitat just outside the city. In just a little over an hour my dad and I managed to see 34 species. Here are some of the highlights from our morning:
My first ever CURVE BILLED THRASHER:
After 2 days in the city, we drove 3 hours north to the small mountain town of San Miguel de Allende. San Miguel de Allende has a population of about 60,000 people and is a popular tourist and retirement destination for Americans. I would say overall I enjoyed my experience here more than anywhere else in Mexico. I have always preferred small cities where I can get all of my resources yet still be close to nature; San Miguel de Allende was prefect for this because I really enjoyed the city and there were great birds. I did two birding trips here in very different habitats which provided a greater species variation. On our 2nd morning here I birded around Rio Laja, a lake surrounded by great bird habitat just outside the city. In just a little over an hour my dad and I managed to see 34 species. Here are some of the highlights from our morning:
My first ever CURVE BILLED THRASHER:
The only shorebirds I saw on the trip, LEAST SANDPIPERS:
Probably the most common bird in San Miguel de Allende, the WHITE WINGED DOVE:
This bird has one of the weirdest ways of killing its prey; this peculiar songbird feeds on lizards, small mammals and even other birds. How does it kill them? Sharing a similar diet to raptors but lacking a raptor's powerful talons, The LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE kills its prey by skewering it on sharp objects such as thorn bushes and barbed wire. Sadly we did not get to watch it feed, but we were awarded with great views.
Later in the afternoon we visited another birding spot, El Charco Botancio. El Charco is not your typical botanic garden, as it contains little to no trees and is almost all entirely cactus and scrub habitat (basically like a desert) surrounding a large lake. I had not birded in this type of habitat before so I was fortunate enough to pick up several lifers. As soon as I walked in, I sportted this uncommon GRAY FLYCATCHER:
The most abundant bird here was this CLAY COLORED SPARROW, which is also a bird that passes through Illinois during migration:
This male VERMILLION FLYCATHCHER is on of the most common birds in Mexico and one of the most astonishing birds I have ever seen:
My lifer BROAD BILLED HUMMINGBIRD:
Another life bird of the trip for me was this WHITE COLLARED SEEDEATER:
Luckily for the 2nd time now, our hotel was in close to a local park that produced a few nice birds for me, some of which were lifers, including...
PLUMBEOUS VIREO:
PLUMBEOUS VIREO:
VIOLET CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD:
During our stay here we spent the majority of our time walking around, here are some pictures I took during our long walks:
sOne night when we were walking to dinner I heard a loud and unmistakable shrill screech of a Barn Owl. Unfortunately I never found the bird, but it has one of the most bizarre calls I have ever heard. After I began walking again, 2 more birds called from a different direction. Even though I didn't see the bird it was still one of the coolest birding experiences I've ever had!
Oaxaca was the highlight of my birding experience in Mexico. In the 3 full days I had here, I saw over 100 species of birds and I gained over 30 lifers. We visited Monte Alban, one of the most famous archaeological sites of Mexico. Monte Alban is an ancient city (now ruins) built by the Zapotec and was believed to have been built in 600 BC. This was by far the coolest site we visited during our trip!
Oaxaca was the highlight of my birding experience in Mexico. In the 3 full days I had here, I saw over 100 species of birds and I gained over 30 lifers. We visited Monte Alban, one of the most famous archaeological sites of Mexico. Monte Alban is an ancient city (now ruins) built by the Zapotec and was believed to have been built in 600 BC. This was by far the coolest site we visited during our trip!
Not only was Monte Alban super cool, but it is one of Oaxaca's top birding locations. I feel like out of all places I visited in Mexico this spot had the most beautiful birds. Here are some photos:\
LADDER BACKED WOODPECKER:
LADDER BACKED WOODPECKER:
ELEGANT EUPHONIA, a bird on my bucket list for this trip:
BEWICK'S WREN singing:
Beautiful male SCOTT'S ORIOLE:
My sister and my mom left a day early to return to Chicago to see Hamilton, which meant me and my dad got an extra day in Oaxaca to bird with our fantastic guide, Roque Antonio Martinez.
I had set myself a goal for the day of 100 species, mainly because I have tried for 100 twice before and had fallen short both times, seeing only 98 species. I was truly hoping to break 100 on this day!
Our plan was to visit a variety of habitats, starting out in the thorn forest valley, followed by birding wetlands and highlands. My #1 target for the trip was the Mexican endemic the Red Warbler. Wish me luck!
Roque had an incredibly sharp eye and ear, and as soon as we stepped out of the car he spotted this BRIDLED SPARROW:
I had set myself a goal for the day of 100 species, mainly because I have tried for 100 twice before and had fallen short both times, seeing only 98 species. I was truly hoping to break 100 on this day!
Our plan was to visit a variety of habitats, starting out in the thorn forest valley, followed by birding wetlands and highlands. My #1 target for the trip was the Mexican endemic the Red Warbler. Wish me luck!
Roque had an incredibly sharp eye and ear, and as soon as we stepped out of the car he spotted this BRIDLED SPARROW:
GRAY BREASTED WOODPECKER:
BOUCARD'S WREN:
BLACK VENTED ORIOLE:
NUTTING'S FLYCATCHER
WHITE TAILED KITE:
We then walked to a small lake picking up several species of ducks and other water birds. Highlights included large numbers of Blue Winged Teal, Northern Pintail and a very uncommon CINNAMON TEAL. We were also fortunate to pick up many of these LEAST GREBES, the worlds smallest grebe.
With the day warming up and the morning hours disappearing, we moved upward in elevation to a reservoir. Roque spotted an uncommon TUFTED FLYCATCHER, a lifer for me. As we were on our way out, this beautiful ROCK WREN sat right along the side of the road and I was able to capture a nice shot, probably my favorite pics from our trip:
We then moved on to the highlands with 70 species on our day list. Because the mountains have different birds, we had a good chance at obtaining 100 species. Once again our list began to grow, and we ticked off beautiful birds such as this SLATE THROATED REDSTART:
GRAY SILKY FLYCATCHERS:
After a quick stop in the village of Benito Juarez for lunch, we continued up the mountain where we found a large variety of new species. We picked out both Hermit and Townsend's Warblers, GRAY BARRED WREN and even my first ever CRESCENT CHESTED WARBLER! Sadly, it was at this spot when I missed two very good birds (one of which was the rarest of the day). But it was at that moment when I caught a flash of red among the treetops, and I knew there was only one possibility; the RED WARBLER! A few moments later, the bird emerged from the foilage and showed off its white cheek patches and long down-curved bill, setting it apart from any other warbler.
After adding BLACK HEADED GROSBEAK and RUFOUS CAPPED BRUSHFINCH to out list, we headed back down the mountain toward the city when I realized we were only at 94 species. I was heartbroken.
After saying our goodbyes to Roque, I realized we still had a chance. There was a local botanic garden down the street, but we were only allowed to enter with a tour guide, and thank god there was a tour about to begin. There was one small problem, however; since a group tour was mandatory, we couldn't exactly run off and find birds. To make things worse, there was a guy named Alfonso who's job was to "monitor" the group and make sure everyone stayed together. Anytime we started to trail behind Alfonso, herded us back to the pack. Still, we had added a few more good birds to our list.
Shortly after we arrived, a Rufous Backed Robin sat atop a tree, and a YELLOW HEADED PARROT flew over. At one point, I thought I saw what could have potentially been an Orchard Oriole, so when Alfonso wasn't looking I attempted to make a mad dash towards the bird only to be dragged back in the opposite direction. A PEREGRINE FALCON darted overhead. It was about 30 minutes before dark, and we were at 97 species. Our last species of the day was a male BALTIMORE ORIOLE that I could just barely make out in the last moments of daylight. Once again, I had ended a big day at just 98 species! If only I had turned around a second sooner in the mountains, I would have seen the Band Tailed Pigeons and Chestnut Sided Shrike Vireo (which both my dad and Roque saw!) and reached my goal. Despite that, we had an incredible day of birding. Roque was a fantastic birding guide!
The travel day home was probably the worst travel day I have ever had. My dad and I experienced nearly 8 hours of being delayed (5 hours of which was waiting in lines) followed by a 4 hour layover in Houston. With time to kill in the Oaxaca airport, my dad and I birded around a little outside picking up ORCHARD ORIOLE and MONK PARAKEET, two species we had not seen during the trip bring our final total up to 135. This is the most successful I have ever been when it comes to birding in a foreign county, and I gained over 50 lifers from this one trip!
Life List: 875
* indicates lifer
Full Species List:
Blue Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green Winged Teal
Ring Necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Least Grebe
Pied Billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Crowned Night Heron
Yellow Crowned Night Heron*
White Faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White Tailed Kite*
Cooper's Hawk
Red Tailed Hawk
American Coot
Black Necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring Billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Inca Dove
White Winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Barn Owl
Vaux's Swift*
Mexican Violetear*
Blue Throated Hummingbird*
Broad Billed Hummingbird*
Berylline Hummingbird*
Violet Crowned Hummingbird*
White Eared Hummingbird*
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher*
Gray Breasted Woodpecker*
Golden Fronted Woodpecker
Red Naped Sapsucker*
Ladder Backed Woodpecker*
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Crested Caracara*
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Monk Parakeet
Yellow Headed Parrot*
Tufted Flycather*
Greater Pewee*
Least Flycather
Gray Flycather*
Dusky Flycather*
PIne Flycather*
Black Pheobe
Say's Pheobe
Vermillion Flycatcher
Ash Thoated Flycather*
Nutting's Flycather*
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Cassin's Kingbird*
Rose Throated Becard
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Headed Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo*
Steller's Jay
Northern Rough Winged Swallow
Violet Green Swallow
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren*
Canyon Wren*
Bewick's Wren*
Gray Barred Wren*
Boucard's Wren*
Gray Breasted Wood Wren*
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Brown Backed Solitare* HO
Hermit Thrush
Rufous Backed Robin*
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Curve Billed Thrasher*
Northern Mockingbird
American Pipit
Gray Silky Flycather*
Black and White Warbler
Crescent Chested Warbler*
Orange Crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Black Throated Gray Warbler*
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Black Throated Green Warbler
Rufous Capped Warbler*
Wilson's Warbler
Red Warbler*
Slate Throated Redstart*
White Collared Seedeater*
Bridled Sparrow*
Grasshopper Sparrow
Clay Colored Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Canyon Towhee*
White Throated Towhee*
Collared Towhee*
Rufous Capped Brushfinch*
Hepatic Tanager*
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Black Headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Black Vented Oriole*
Orchard Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Scott's Oriole*
Baltimore Oriole
Great Tailed Grackle
Elegant Euphonia*
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow.
135 total
51 lifers total
After saying our goodbyes to Roque, I realized we still had a chance. There was a local botanic garden down the street, but we were only allowed to enter with a tour guide, and thank god there was a tour about to begin. There was one small problem, however; since a group tour was mandatory, we couldn't exactly run off and find birds. To make things worse, there was a guy named Alfonso who's job was to "monitor" the group and make sure everyone stayed together. Anytime we started to trail behind Alfonso, herded us back to the pack. Still, we had added a few more good birds to our list.
Shortly after we arrived, a Rufous Backed Robin sat atop a tree, and a YELLOW HEADED PARROT flew over. At one point, I thought I saw what could have potentially been an Orchard Oriole, so when Alfonso wasn't looking I attempted to make a mad dash towards the bird only to be dragged back in the opposite direction. A PEREGRINE FALCON darted overhead. It was about 30 minutes before dark, and we were at 97 species. Our last species of the day was a male BALTIMORE ORIOLE that I could just barely make out in the last moments of daylight. Once again, I had ended a big day at just 98 species! If only I had turned around a second sooner in the mountains, I would have seen the Band Tailed Pigeons and Chestnut Sided Shrike Vireo (which both my dad and Roque saw!) and reached my goal. Despite that, we had an incredible day of birding. Roque was a fantastic birding guide!
The travel day home was probably the worst travel day I have ever had. My dad and I experienced nearly 8 hours of being delayed (5 hours of which was waiting in lines) followed by a 4 hour layover in Houston. With time to kill in the Oaxaca airport, my dad and I birded around a little outside picking up ORCHARD ORIOLE and MONK PARAKEET, two species we had not seen during the trip bring our final total up to 135. This is the most successful I have ever been when it comes to birding in a foreign county, and I gained over 50 lifers from this one trip!
Life List: 875
* indicates lifer
Full Species List:
Blue Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green Winged Teal
Ring Necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Least Grebe
Pied Billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Crowned Night Heron
Yellow Crowned Night Heron*
White Faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White Tailed Kite*
Cooper's Hawk
Red Tailed Hawk
American Coot
Black Necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring Billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Inca Dove
White Winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Barn Owl
Vaux's Swift*
Mexican Violetear*
Blue Throated Hummingbird*
Broad Billed Hummingbird*
Berylline Hummingbird*
Violet Crowned Hummingbird*
White Eared Hummingbird*
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher*
Gray Breasted Woodpecker*
Golden Fronted Woodpecker
Red Naped Sapsucker*
Ladder Backed Woodpecker*
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Crested Caracara*
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Monk Parakeet
Yellow Headed Parrot*
Tufted Flycather*
Greater Pewee*
Least Flycather
Gray Flycather*
Dusky Flycather*
PIne Flycather*
Black Pheobe
Say's Pheobe
Vermillion Flycatcher
Ash Thoated Flycather*
Nutting's Flycather*
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Cassin's Kingbird*
Rose Throated Becard
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Headed Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo*
Steller's Jay
Northern Rough Winged Swallow
Violet Green Swallow
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren*
Canyon Wren*
Bewick's Wren*
Gray Barred Wren*
Boucard's Wren*
Gray Breasted Wood Wren*
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Brown Backed Solitare* HO
Hermit Thrush
Rufous Backed Robin*
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Curve Billed Thrasher*
Northern Mockingbird
American Pipit
Gray Silky Flycather*
Black and White Warbler
Crescent Chested Warbler*
Orange Crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Black Throated Gray Warbler*
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Black Throated Green Warbler
Rufous Capped Warbler*
Wilson's Warbler
Red Warbler*
Slate Throated Redstart*
White Collared Seedeater*
Bridled Sparrow*
Grasshopper Sparrow
Clay Colored Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Canyon Towhee*
White Throated Towhee*
Collared Towhee*
Rufous Capped Brushfinch*
Hepatic Tanager*
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Black Headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Black Vented Oriole*
Orchard Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Scott's Oriole*
Baltimore Oriole
Great Tailed Grackle
Elegant Euphonia*
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow.
135 total
51 lifers total
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