Birding around El Naranjo
Today we birded around El Naranjo, including areas accessible from Highway 80 (notably the road to El Maguey de Oriente, the small town of Plantanillo, and the higher (and dryer) regions around Agua Zarca), and along the river coming from El Salto Falls.
The elevation at the spots along Highway 80 is higher than Gomez Farias. The montane forests in these locations are filled with Oak. By the time you reach the region of Agua Zarca, the forest becomes quite dry. I really enjoyed Agua Zarca. I found it to be a nice change of habitat. Whereas birding in dense forests can become tiring because of the difficulty in locating and tracking birds, Agua Zarca’s open spaces and grasslands provided easy viewing to a very birdy area. The habitat (and accordingly the species) are less “tropical” than one might imagine for Mexico, but there are still some good target birds to look for, such as Spotted Wren, which we saw well today.
The birding overall in Mexico has been harder than usual. There are many good species to be found, and I’m confident that the upcoming festival trip will be a success. At times though, the birding has been slow. It may very well be the time of year. It also may be affecting higher elevations more than lower. For example, the road to El Maguey de Oriente saw intense bird activity this morning from about 7:30 to 9:30. After that though, it was very quiet. Whatever it is, our strategy will be to bird areas as long as they’re productive, and move to new locations if things slow down.
The proof that there are still nice birds to be found is in today’s list. I’ve included it for those interested.
Species in bold are probably of high interest to those who’ve not birded outside the US before. (H) = heard only.
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Cattle Egret
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Gray Hawk
- Roadside Hawk
- Crested Caracara
- American Kestrel
- Bat Falcon
- Plain Chachalaca
- Singing Quail (H)
- Rock Pigeon
- White-winged Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Inca Dove
- Green Parakeet
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Mountain Trogon (H)
- Acorn Woodpecker
- Golden-fronted Woodpecker
- Ladder-backed Woodpecker
- Olivaceous Woodcreeper
- Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
- Greater Pewee
- Empidonax species – possibly Pine Flycatcher, but not sure.
- Black Phoebe
- Eastern Phoebe
- Vermilion Flycatcher
- Dusky-capped Flycatcher
- Great Kiskadee
- Boat-billed Flycatcher
- Social Flycatcher
- Tropical Kingbird
- White-eyed Vireo
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Rufous-browed Peppershrike
- Green Jay
- Brown Jay
- Mexican Jay
- Tamaulipas Crow
- Common Raven
- Bridled Titmouse
- Black-crested Titmouse
- Spotted Wren – We got incredible looks, and even got pictures through a spotting scope, up at Agua Zarca.
- Spot-breasted Wren (H)
- House Wren
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Brown-backed Solitaire (H)
- Clay-colored Robin
- Blue Mockingbird (H)
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
- Crescent-chested Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Painted Redstart
- Golden-crowned Warbler
- Rufous-capped Warbler
- Yellow-breasted Chat
- Summer Tanager
- White-winged Tanager
- Yellow-winged Tanager (H)
- Yellow-throated Euphonia
- Yellow-faced Grassquit
- Olive Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Crimson-collared Grosbeak (H)
- Blue Bunting
- Indigo Bunting
- Melodius Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Bronzed Cowbird
- Hooded Oriole
- Audubon’s Oriole
- Lesser Goldfinch
(Forgot about Acorn Woodpecker when I posted yesterday, which brings the total for the day to 80.)
More kudos to you and Mel for finding the great birds. I hope the birding dynamics of a large group of birders will be just as successful.
Today (Sat. am) our group went to the state park. There were ten of us and some made the outing a social event while others wanted to bird. However, I heard a rail and the habitat is perfect for one. I’m going back in the early morning some time this week to investigate further. Let you know what I find.
Singing Quail! Fantastic!
Oops… We only heard Singing Quail. I’ve updated the list to reflect that now. There are some birds which are downright hard to actually see but are heard regularly. Singing Quail, Thicket Tinamou, Blue Mockingbird, and Brown-backed Solitaire all come to mind.