Veracruz 2009: Day Six

Xalapa is a classic small Mexican city: busy to the point of bustling, but dotted with quiet places full of birds.

Macuiltepetl Park is one of those places. Even on a normal Wednesday like today, the street in front of the main entrance is packed with traffic and street vendors and people going about their morning business. But walk through the archway and suddenly Macuiltepetl–the “fifth hill” on whose slopes Xalapa is constructed–is a peaceful near-wilderness, the hillside forests cool and dark and bird-rich.

In our four fleeting hours this morning, we covered the first couple of hundred yards of the park’s wide, level paths, and discovered birds ranging from Black-headed Saltators to a Berylline Hummingbird on a nest. At least two Blue-crowned Motmots graced us with their presence and their low, evocative hooting, and a Canada Warbler on the slope below them was the first I’d seen for a couple of years (!).

My favorite birds, though, were excellent close comparisons of three relatively mundane species (by Veracruz standards, at least!). Once again we enjoyed side-by-side Social and Boat-billed Flycatchers, this time joined by a Great Kiskadee noisily living up to both parts of its name. No photos of the kiskadee, but this boat-bill was a nice one.

The morning’s list is at ebird.org, as usual, and I’ll try to find a moment to post images of a couple of the butterflies for which this site is so famous, too.

Wednesday, already? Seems like we just got here!