Birding Llera

Llera is the name for a large area of lowlands below Gomez Farias. Like most of the lowlands along the eastern slope of Mexico, it was long ago cleared for sugar cane production and cattle ranching. Good habitat remains in places though, particularly along the two rivers that run through Llera: the Rio Sabinas and the Rio Frio.

Saul couldn’t take us this morning, so he lent his car to a friend named Daniel, who would accompany us today. As we were headed up the road to Gomez Farias (the region below Gomez is part of Llera), Saul’s car began to make a peculiar clicking noise. Now I had noticed some interesting things about Saul’s car these last few days that we’ve been with him. The odometer reads 282,745. Permanently. I would really like to know how long ago it stopped working. No doubt it’s been some time. Now this number is in kilometers (just like the speedometer that doesn’t work), and with a quick calculation that should be about 180,957 miles. Apparently his car decided this morning that it didn’t enjoy running without water circulating through the engine, and that’s what that clicking noise was all about.

Daniel had slowed the car down and it stalled. He tried to start it up again, with no luck. At this point, we were just behind a blind curve, and rolling backwards down a hill (manual transmission). I thought about grabbing my backpack and bailing from the moving car, but decided that might make me look a little gutless. I would stay and face danger, to the bitter end. Fortunately, that bitter end was overted. The skid marks (no joke) from the approaching eighteen-wheeler testified to just how scary the situation was. (Okay, it’s not like it fish-tailed or anything, but it did lay down tread).

As this was all happening, coming down the mountain was Felipe Rameriz, the owner of the Hotel Casa de Piedra in Gomez Farias, who we met and talked with on Friday. He stopped and opened up the hood with us to look things over. The radiator was the cause of all the smoke, and I sacrificed all three bottles of my purified water in an effort to fix the problem. We went down the road a little bit, filled up a huge jug with water from a creek for the radiator, and were back on the road after a bit.

The bliss didn’t last too long though, as the engine quickly began to overheat. (Fortunately, the temperature gauge worked correctly, so we could see it coming and pull over). With further investigation, we assessed that water was leaking from the engine, and that the water pump was likely not working. Being over a mile from where Mel and I wanted to start birding, we hoofed it while Daniel limped back to somewhere and borrowed an old suburban. He said he’d meet us in the small town of Azteca around noon.

Our new found car made Saul’s car look like a model of stability. The paneling below the dash on the passenger’s side was missing, revealing a tangled mass of wires. It also had a spare tire in the back that wasn’t properly screwed down, so that it banged against the side of the car noisely as we bounced over the uneven roads. But as they say in Mexico, “Esta Bien”. It worked fine.

That afternoon, we went to Bocatoma. There are a couple of restaurants named Bocatoma and Bocatoma 2. I believe we went to 2. For 100 pesos (9 bucks), we had a guy take us down the Rio Frio by boat. (It was actually only suppose to be 50 pesos, but Mel only had a 100 and the guy didn’t have change). In addition to being absolutely beautiful, the birding was good too. We had excellent looks at Ringed, Amazon, and Green Kingfishers. Most exciting for me, I finally saw a new bird! And not just one, but two!

We saw a Sungrebe from 25 feet away. Their feet are bright yellow with black wavy horizontal lines across them. They also have very wide flat toes, to help propel them through the water. Mel and I hypothesized that the pattern on their feet may attract fish, which they eat. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

We also got incredible looks at Boat-billed Heron, which I’ve never seen before. Its plumage looks very similar to Black-crowned Night-Heron, but it’s bill is as wide as it’s head. We got within 15 or 20 feet perhaps, and I got some nice pictures which I’ll post once I’m back in the states.

We face a bit of challenge on taking the festival group on boat trips. The problem is that each boat can only hold 6 or 7. (The operator says 10, but I wouldn’t push it that much). That would mean the other participants (remember, we’ll have two seperate groups of 30), would have to bird around the river while waiting their turn to take the boat. I think it would be worth it, especially for the possibility of Sungrebe, Boat-billed Heron, and all the kingfishers, but it’s just a little troublesome logistically. For one thing, it’s possible that some people would see birds that others don’t. Maybe the Sungrebe will get tired of visitors by the fourth boat and take off. (Who could blame him?) Another concern is that the birding might slow as everybody waits their turn on the boat. I just don’t want to disappoint people. Being on the river is wonderful though, and I think we’d all be glad for the change of pace.

We decided to call it a day early, and come back to the hotel. A little time off, and a chance to shower and relax sounded good, since I’ll be birding (or traveling) for 20 days straight over the course of my trip.

Here’s the bird list for today for those interested. Species in bold are probably of high interest to those who’ve not birded outside the US before. (H) = heard only.

1. Great Egret
2. Snowy Egret
3. Cattle Egret
4. Boat-billed Heron
5. Muscovy Duck
6. Black Vulture
7. Turkey Vulture
8. Hook-billed Kite (H)
9. Cooper’s Hawk
10. Gray Hawk
11. Roadside Hawk
12. Collared Forest-Falcon (H)
13. Crested Caracara
14. American Kestrel
15. Bat Falcon
16. Plain Chachalaca
17. Sun Grebe
18. Rock Pigeon
19. Red-billed Pigeon
20. White-winged Dove
21. Mourning Dove
22. Inca Dove
23. Common Ground-Dove
24. Ruddy Ground-Dove
25. White-tipped Dove
26. Green Parakeet
27. White-crowned Parrot
28. Red-lored Parrot
29. Squirrel Cuckoo
30. Groove-billed Ani
31. Vaux’s Swift
32. Wedge-tailed Sabrewing
33. Buff-bellied Hummingbird
34. Blue-crowned Motmot (H)
35. Ringed Kingfisher
36. Amazon Kingfishe
37. Green Kingfisher
38. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
39. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
40. Lineated Woodpecker (H)
41. Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
42. Barred Antshrike (H)
43. Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
44. Eastern Phoebe
45. Vermilion Flycatcher
46. Dusky-capped Flycatcher
47. Boat-billed Flycatcher
48. Social Flycatcher
49. Tropical Kingbird
50. Couch’s Kingbird
51. Masked Tityra
52. White-eyed Vireo
53. Green Jay
54. Brown Jay
55. Tamaulipas Crow
56. Spot-breasted Wren (H)
57. House Wren
58. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
59. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
60. Clay-colored Robin
61. Northern Mockingbird
62. Tropical Parula
63. Wilson’s Warbler
64. Golden-crowned Warbler (H)
65. Summer Tanager
66. Yellow-winged Tanager (H)
67. Scrub Euphonia
68. Yellow-throated Euphonia
69. White-collared Seedeater
70. Olive Sparrow
71. Lincoln’s Sparrow
72. Black-headed Saltator
73. Indigo Bunting
74. Eastern Meadowlark
75. Melodius Blackbird
76. Great-tailed Grackle
77. Bronzed Cowbird
78. Altamira Oriole
79. Audubon’s Oriole
80. Baltimore Oriole
81. House Sparrow