Archive for Veracruz
Veracruz 2009: Day Five
Posted by: | CommentsIt was a raptor day to beat all raptor days, starting with an Osprey perched, slightly befuddled, in Xalapa’s Parque Natura this morning.
This was far from the last raptor we’d see today. Following a fine workshop by Ernesto Ruelas on the identification and counting of migrant raptors, our big red buses trundled off to Cardel, where we ascended (there’s an elevator now!) to the world-famous rooftop for some hawkwatching.
And there were lots of hawks to watch. Besides the resident Black Vultures and the streams of southbound Turkey Vultures, we saw in our few hours on the roof upwards of 20,000 Broad-winged Hawks, swarms and swarms of birds, their wings drawn back, peeling off from the kettles to move south. With them were a few Swainson’s Hawks–more will be passing every day–and assorted other raptors, including Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and small numbers of Mississippi Kites munching on the dragonflies that were engaged in their own, almost as impressive migration.
Of course, we did a little munching ourselves, at the fine buffet set out for us by the Hotel Bienvenido just a quick flight of stairs down from the hawkwatch.
All of us here at the ABA Conference will have a second chance at the coastal hawkwatches, tomorrow or Friday, when we’ll spend the whole day along the Gulf of Mexico. We’ll be hard put to find a spectacle to match today’s!
Veracruz 2009 Day Four: Big Bills and Small
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The morning at Chavarrillo was full of wonders expected and not, from Bronze-winged Woodpecker to Montezuma Oropendola. One of the most gratifying sights came early in the day, when my disquisition on the identification of “kiskadee-like” flycatchers was conveniently illustrated by the timely arrival of these two:
The upper bird was one of the abundant and soon familiar Social Flycatchers, the lower a fine big-schnozzed Boat-billed Flycatcher.
They really do seem to have a canoe stuck onto their face. I don’t think any of the participants will have further troubles with these species after their study of this “living field guide.”
Veracruz 2009, Day Three
Posted by: | CommentsAnother great day here in Xalapa. After last night’s late arrival–it wouldn’t have felt quite so late had I not stayed up until 3:00 am working on my notes and studying–I slept through breakfast this morning and ambled down to meet everybody for lunch, after which it was time for the first official event of the Conference.
There were lifebirds aplenty for the group as we wandered down the street in front of the hotel. Here we’ve stopped to admire Brown Jays, Social Flycatchers, and an Azure-crowned Hummingbird; a Groove-billed Ani squealed and chucked from a roof across the street.
Because it was mid-afternoon, the birding was noticeably slower than on our earlier strolls through the suburbs, but the creek five minutes’ walk away still produced well for us. I had to return to the hotel before the Mississippi Kites flew over and the Boat-billed Flycatcher showed up, but I did get to glimpse the insistently calling Louisiana Waterthrush and hear the noisy Band-backed Wrens before duty called me back to the hotel.
Can’t wait to get farther afield tomorrow! I’m going with Robert and Eduardo’s group to Chavarillo and the Parque Natura, and expect to have much to tell when we get back.
Veracruz 2009: Day Two
Posted by: | CommentsOur laudable industry yesterday meant that we could all take some time to bird today–and we did it with a vengeance.
We started the morning with the short walk to the Parque Natura, just a couple of blocks from the hotel; an important discovery was the Costco Canopy Walkway.
Oddly enough, most Jalapeños seem to labor under the delusion that this elevated walkway is meant to help them get across the busy highway more or less intact, but for birders, it proves a great way to look into the treetops at such wonders as Brown Jays, Yellow-winged Tanagers, and Social Flycatchers.
This will likely be the first lifer for many of the conference participants when they get up in, let me see
, four hours or so (I’m just back from escorting the new arrivals from Veracruz to Xalapa). And they can be forgiven, I think, if they linger long over this charismatic little creature.
The birding was great in the park–so good that we covered only, oh, something like the first quarter mile of the path. Wilson’s Warblers where everywhere (really, everywhere!), and patient sorting finally produced an elegant male Mourning Warbler in one of the flocks, his throat crepe still intact. Loosely associated with the same migrant gang was a pair of Rufous-capped Warblers, vocal and confiding as usual.
A real treat was a Squirrel Cuckoo that came out of the foliage to perch briefly in the dead twigs; the background music was provided by a couple of Melodious Blackbirds. We’re in the tropics now!
Just as impressive as the birds were the bugs. This archaic-looking grasshopper was perched impassive in the cool grass of morning.
Can’t quite say it was beautiful, but a fascinating creature for sure. More conventionally appealing were the butterflies, among them this eighty-eight:
But nothing beats the sheer snazzitude of clearwings. This species was quite common on the edge of the woodland.
By late morning it was growing warmer and the birds quieter, so we ran a couple of last errands, had lunch, and headed to the Anthropological Museum of Xalapa. I knew it was famous, but I was entirely unprepared for the mass of fantastic objects well presented. This place is suddenly among my favorite museums anywhere–and not just for the many birds, like this Black-throated Green Warbler, attracted to puddles on the extensive grounds.
I’ll try to put together an “album” of some of the amazing sculptures collected there, but for now, let this one give a sense of the monumentality of what are called, quite appropriately, “cabezas colossales”:
and let this one give a sense of the incredible delicacy of the many, many smaller objects preserved:
A perfect day–birds, art, and Mexican food!
Veracruz 2009: Day One
Posted by: | CommentsWhat do you do if you’re involved in a birding conference? You show up two days early to bird, of course!
WINGS arranged the field trips for this year’s ABA Conference in Veracruz, which starts Sunday afternoon here in the beautiful old city of Xalapa. It was a short night last night after our 1:15 am arrival at the hotel, but the few hours of sleep were refreshing and a good breakfast revivifying. And then it was off to scout the hotel grounds and neighborhood streets for the informal welcome-to-Xalapa birdwalk scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Social Flycatchers screeched from the trees, and Wilson’s Warblers flycaught just about everywhere we looked. Then Greg’s sharp eyes picked out a dumpy shape in the shade–a Blue-crowned Motmot, sitting motionless above the creek. A few minutes later he found another on the other side of the road, and we eventually heard both birds giving their hesitant double whoop. Even better, an evening walk down to the same site with Tamie and Brenda produced one of the birds actively feeding, sallying out to capture big and no doubt delicious insects which it bludgeoned and swallowed.
Our evening sortie was well timed for White-fronted Parrots, too, as they headed noisily to roost.
Most simply flew overhead, but one pair stopped to dine in the treetops overhead, easily snipping off branches with their bills and maneuvering them with their expressive feet. Eventually this pair, too, joined the rest in what looks like a fairly substantial roost behind the hotel; should be a nice noisy show tomorrow morning!
You can see a complete list of the birds we found around the hotel today at ebird. And check back here for daily updates on what promises to be an outstandingly good week with the birds of Veracruz.
