|
Northeast Mexico offers
birders the opportunity to encounter many of the country’s endemic birds while
traveling through habitats as diverse as high desert plateaus, tropical
marshes, dry upland oak forests, lowland rainforests, and montane
cloudforests. While birds like Mountain Trogon, Azure-hooded Jay, and
Keel-billed Toucan are all undeniably tropical, this tour offers a taste of the
Neotropics without overwhelming numbers of unfamiliar bird families, making it
an excellent tour for first-timers to the tropics. A visit to the stunning
pre-Columbian ruin of El Tajín makes for an especially memorable trip.
Day 1:
Monterrey.
After arrival you will be transferred to our hotel for the night.
Day 2:
Tanque
de Emergencia and San Antonio de las Alanzas. We start the day in the high desert along the Nuevo
León-Coahuila border, searching through clouds of sky blue Mountain Bluebirds
for the enigmatic and highly localized Worthen's Sparrow. Other possibilities include Ferruginous
Hawk, Mountain Plover, and Crissal Thrasher. In the
afternoon we’ll bird high-elevation pine forest at San Antonio de las Alanzas
where we hope to see Pine Flycatcher, Russet Nightingale-Thrush, Painted Whitestart, and
Montezuma Quail.
We may also cross paths with flocks of two highly nomadic Mexican endemics,
Aztec Thrush and Maroon-fronted Parrot. We spend the night in Saltillo.
Day 3: The Highrise and Cola de Caballo. Yet another morning will
be spent in the highest reaches of the breathtaking Sierra Madre Oriental. Birds hanging around the spectacular canyons
include Colima Warbler, Black-chinned Sparrow, Mexican Chickadee, and Olive
Warbler. Descending into the Gulf Slope foothills and lowlands, we'll encounter
our first truly tropical birds, like Elegant Trogon and 'coeruliceps' Blue-crowned Motmot.
Night in La Pesca.
Day 4: La Pesca to El Cielo. Birding
the thornscrub near La Pesca, we hope to find Tawny-collared Nightjars predawn,
and Yellow-headed Amazons and Thicket Tinamous thereafter. By late morning,
we'll be headed to Gómez Farías, gateway to the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. Trest of the day will be spent in tropical foothill and montane
forest. Exciting birds found here
include Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Crested Guan, and Blue Bunting. Night in Gómez
Farías.
Days 4-5: El Cielo. Habitats are diverse here.
Agricultural fields hold Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and Blue-black Grassquit. A
short cruise up the Río Frío may produce Muscovy Duck, Amazon Kingfisher,
Boat-billed Heron, or even a Sungrebe if we’re lucky. Gallery forest along
the Río Sabinas hosts Masked Tityra and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper. As we move up the road towards the village
of Alta Cima, some of the possible birds include Fan-tailed Warbler, Squirrel
Cuckoo, Mountain Trogon, Bronze-winged Woodpecker, White-crowned Parrot, and
Elegant Euphonia. Nights in Gomez
Farias.
Day 6:
Tula-Ocampo Road. Today we’ll drive west up into the mountains in order to explore some
new habitats. The humid, brushy upper slopes on the Gulf side of the
divide harbor some hard-to-see skulkers such as Blue Mockingbird,
Crimson-collared Grosbeak, and Rufous-capped Brush-Finch. Passing over the
crest to the inland slope, the landscape changes drastically to desert scrub. A
nearby reservoir is a magnet to a variety of ducks, grebes, and
shorebirds. Night
in El Naranjo.
Days 7-8: El Naranjo. We’ll carefully comb
through mixed flocks here, and should see Crescent-chested Warbler,
White-winged Tanager, and Rufous-browed Peppershrike. With some luck, we’ll
come across a pair of Gray-collared Becards, an uncommon and nomadic Mexican
endemic. Carefully checking the understory here is probably our best
chance of finding the subtly beautiful Singing Quail. The xeric upland oak
forest near Agua Zarca supports a disjunct population of Spotted Wren.
Other birds we may come across include Pale-billed Woodpecker, Yellow-headed
Parrot, Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Bat Falcon, and Military Macaw. We’ll call it
a day at the beautiful cascade near El Meco, where there’s often a pre-roost
performance by White-collared Swifts. We’ll spend two nights in the town of El
Naranjo.
Day 9: El
Naranjo to Tlanchinol. After early-morning birding around El Naranjo, we’ll head
to the most northerly accessible patch of true cloudforest in the Americas.
Common birds at Tlanchinol include the ubiquitous Common Bush-Tanager, the
striking Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, and the spritely Golden-browed
Warbler. Night in Huejutla de
Reyes.
Day 10:
Tlanchinol.
We will begin at first light, hoping to catch a glimpse of elusive species such
as Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Black Robin, and even Scaled Antpitta as
they come out to feed on the wide trail. A keen ear should help us track
down larger birds like Unicolored and Azure-hooded Jays, Emerald Toucanet, and
Strong-billed Woodcreeper. Scrubby second growth offers a chance at Gray Silky-flycatcher,
Hooded Grosbeak, White-bellied Emerald, and two eastern highland endemics:
White-naped Brushfinch and Hooded Yellowthroat. All the while, we’ll hope to
encounter one of the most endangered and least-known birds in Mexico, the
endemic Bearded Wood-Partridge. Night
in Huejutla de Reyes.
Day 11: Tlanchinol to El
Tajín. After another morning at
Tlanchinol, we head east to visit El Tajín, one of the most impressive ruin sites in the
Americas. The 2,000-year-old pyramids soar upward from the rainforest, and the
birding is great right on the grounds. With luck we may encounter Crested Guan,
Montezuma Oropendola, and Canivet's Emerald. Night in
Tecolutla.
Day 12:
Tecolutla to Xalapa. Outside Tecolutla we hope to see two endemics, Altamira
Yellowthroat and Ochre Oriole. Rails abound in the marsh, and Gray-necked
Wood-Rail, Spotted Rail, Yellow-breasted Crake, and Ruddy Crake are among the
alluring possibilities. Other birds of note include Laughing Falcon, Lesser
Yellow-headed Vulture, and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. The immediate coast
and nearby estuaries sometimes hold Collared Plover. The afternoon will be
spent driving to Xalapa. We spend the
night in Xalapa.
Day 13: Xalapa to Córdoba. The
beautiful colonial city of Xalapa lies along the eastern edge of the Sierra,
and thankfully for us, offers easy access to high-elevation forest. We’re now far south enough to encounter
stunning crowd-pleasers like Bumblebee Hummingird, Cinnamon-bellied
Flowerpiercer, and the highly-coveted Red Warbler. This evening we’ll stay to
the south, in Córdoba.
Day 14: Amatlán and Las Barrancas. This morning we awake in the shadow of the massive 18,490-foot
Pico de Orizaba. Ranked the world’s
seventh most prominent peak, this glacier-capped volcano is literally an awesome
sight. The endemic Sumichrast’s Wren is
our main target as we bird near the village of Amatlán. Other birds living in the karst-strewn
coffee plantations and rainforest fragments include Keel-billed Toucan, Aztec
Parakeet, Violaceous Trogon, Golden-olive Woodpecker, and Collared Trogon. An afternoon trip to Las Barrancas will give
us a shot at Pinnated Bittern and Rufous-breasted Spinetail. We could also see Fork-tailed Flycatcher,
Grassland Yellow-Finch, and Double-striped Thick-knee in the surrounding
grasslands. Night in Veracruz.
Day
15: Veracruz. The tour ends in the
morning as you catch your flight home.
Tour
Info:
CLIMATE: Generally
pleasant, but cold at higher elevations.
DIFFICULTY: Moderately
easy. The trails at Tlanchinol are fairly steep, but only for short stretches,
and we take them at a very slow pace.
This tour does require several long drives.
ACCOMODATION:
Very good throughout.
|