Oaxaca Trip 2003

OAXACA 2003 TRIP

My wife and I took our second birding trip to Mexico in October of 2003, doing our birding on the Pacific side of the state of Oaxaca, with a little birding done in Mexico City. We arrived in Mexico City at the beginning of October and returned from Mexico City to Eagan, Minnesota in the middle of the month.

Destinations in Oaxaca: Teotitlan de Valle, Tehuantepec, Huatulco, Monte Carlo (superb shade-grown birder friendly coffee farm)

Preparing for the trip:
We flew to Mexico City, as my wife's immediate family lives there. We then took a night bus to Oaxaca, picked up a rented car, from Alamo, and later returned to Mexico City with my mother in law in her car.

As before, for background reading we primarily made use of the wonderful book 'A Bird-Finding Guide to Mexico' by Steve Howell and the superb book 'A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America' by Steve Howell and Sophie Webb. The book 'The Ecotraveller's Wildlife Guide - Tropical Mexico' by Les Beletsky is very interesting, though we didn't bring it with us, and the book 'Aves de Mexico' by Roger Peterson and Edward Chalif is a useful addition that we brought along. From 'Birding the Americas Trip Report and Planning Repository' on the web I made use of the reports by Libby Huffman on Mexico City and those by Mark Stackhouse & David Wheeler, David & Linda Ferry, Robert Machover, and Gruff Dodd on Oaxaca. Gruff's detailed account is most welcome.

In Oaxaca City we stayed at two hotels: Hotel Calesa Real (http://www.prodigyweb.net.mx/cal7310) and La Casona Del Llano. The first night in the Calesa Real was rough as they put us in a room that shared a wall with a place with late night dancing. The second night was much better after we changed rooms. They have a fine restaurant. While it doesn't have a pool, we would rate the Casona Del Llano higher. The rooms were very nice, quiet and well priced. In the little garden we also saw some nice birds, including a Grey Silky. The restaurant is also very good. In Tehuantepec we stayed at the Hotel Guiexhoba. While I found the hotel to be very nice, my wife found it simply nice. They have a pool and the restaurant was quite good. In Huatulco we stayed at the Hotel Meigas Binniguenda. This is a large hotel with a very nice swimming pool area and other areas for relaxing. We were put in a wing of the hotel which appeared to be nice and quiet. However, it filled up with hoards of college students who were drinking and yelling all night. We finally asked to be moved and, while we could still hear them in the distance, managed to get about four and a half hours of sleep; much less than we would have liked. The hotel staff 'felt bad', but they should have foreseen the situation and I don't recommend them. In 2002 we had stayed at the Hostal de la Noria (www.lanoria.com) in Oaxaca City and we also recommend this hotel. The hotel names can be difficult to remember, so take home a little bottle of shampoo to help out!

The hotel reservations and car rental, with Alamo, were done about a week in advance, and the airplane ticket a month in advance.

Pleasant surprise: Efren Scherenberg, one of the owners of Monte Carlo, arranged for Roque Antonio Santiago to be present while we were visiting Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is a spectacular place for birding and Roque really added to our enjoyment with his keen eye and excellent knowledge of the birds of the area. You can find a web page with information about Monte Carlo and James Ownby has information on his web page; James also had a letter about Monte Carlo in Wild Bird magazine. Roque Antonio Santiago resides in Teotitlan de Valle and is an expert quide for birding in the Oaxaca City area and may do other areas. He can be reached at 011 52 951 524 43 71, or roque_antonio640 @ hotmail.com. He also does various other eco-type activities and is up to the task of putting together one to meet your needs.

The temperatures were fine in Oaxaca City itself and in the coastal mountains, but it was quite warm on the coast itself. Be sure to bring or buy a hat as you may encounter long periods of time in direct and bright sunlight; I prefer a good fitting straw one.

Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico and one of the culturally richest. Oaxaca City is a UNESCO world heritage site and there are several wonderful ruins due to the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, Monte Alban being the most notable.

Any endemics to Mexico and northern Central America I will put in bold font in the list. As before, the trip overall was fantastic and some of the species were simply spectacular. I only listed the species whose id I was certain of, or that me and/or my wife saw.

MEXICO CITY

We did do some birding in the Mexico City area and I'll get that out of the way first.

My wife's family lives in the Colonia Unidad Modelo and either in front of their home or within walking distance we saw the following species: inca dove, bewick's wren, house sparrow, house finch. Not long before our trip the branch of an old tree broke off and seriously injured a pedestrian. As a reaction, a large number of trees in this part of the city were being removed. This, in conjunction with the cutting of the grass in the center dividers, made for quite a different look from the previous year.

On October 5th I went to Bosque del Tlalpan and birded for about 4.5 hours. It was a Sunday, with plenty of joggers, but the horse trails on the right hand side of the park, as viewed from the entrance, were essentially empty. In the park I saw black & white warbler, black throated gray warbler, townsend's warbler, wilson's warbler, nashville warbler, slate-breasted redstart, rufous-capped warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, ovenbird, macgillivray's warbler, black-headed grosbeack, bewick's wren, scrub jay, bushtit, curve-billed thrasher, ladder-backed woodpecker, blue-gray gnatcatcher, bullock's oriole (abeillei race), canyon towhee, inca dove, house sparrow, berryline hummer, white-eared hummer, western peewee, rufous-backed thrush.

OAXACA

We arrived to Oaxaca on October 8th, picked up our rented car and headed to Tehuantepec.

Hwy 190 from OAXACA CITY to TEHUANTEPEC: On October 8th drove to Tehuantepec via Highway 190 from Oaxaca City. It is about a 6 hr drive, we took a 1 hour lunch and spent about 2.5 hours birding. It was actually a great trip and we saw 33 species. First, on the wires outside of Oaxaca City we encountered some loggerhead shrikes. We pulled about 1 Km. off of 190 on the entrance road to Teotitlan de Valle and birded for a while, seeing grey-breasted woodpecker, northern mockingbird, eastern meadowlark, bullock's oriole, cassin's kingbird, blue-grey gnatcatcher, white-throated towhee and boucard's wren. Continuing on 190, shortly before Matatlan we got black vulture, rock dove, inca dove, great-tailed grackle, caracara (about 10) and house sparrow. We did drive up the road to Microondas Nueve Puntas just after Matatlan. While it was pretty quiet we did see western scrub jay, turkey vulture, lesser goldfinch and wilson's warbler. At a highway turnout on a downhill portion of 190, near Km. 65, we saw black-vented oriole, hepatic tanager, bridled sparrow and red-headed tanager; all spectacular and new for us. At a turnout near Km. 77 we saw raven and at puente Las Catarinas observed a golden-fronted woodpecker. We stopped for lunch at San Jose de Garcia and saw three white-throated magpie jays, while, at puente de Pillete we came upon rufous-naped wren, hooded oriole and more white-throated magpie jays. Continuing, near Tequisistlan we saw short-tailed hawk, caracara with black headed vultures, cassin's kingbird, great kiskadees and scissor-tailed flycatcher. From Tequisistlan to the military checkpoint just outside of Tehuantepec we saw gray hawk (juv) and hooded oriole while at the checkpoint we saw seven white-throated magpie jays, two golden-checked woodpeckers and a hooded oriole. While gawking, a soldier told us to move on.

Tehuantepec River and Glorieta in TEHUANTEPEC: On the evening of the 8th, after checking into the hotel, spent under 1/2 hour at the river, under the bridge. The area there is filthy but we did manage to see yellow warbler, northern jacana, great egreat, snowy egret, black-necked stilts, solitary sandpiper and black terns. As the sun set we got to the Glorieta, or bandshell, right in the middle of Tehuantepec. It's not obvious how to get there, but after asking we found it. We spent about an hour captivated by the large number of great-tailed grackles coming in to roost in the trees and, more importantly, the grey-breasted martins coming in to roost under the Glorieta roof.

Km. 244 just north of TEHUANTEPEC on Hwy 190: It began to rain the evening of the 8th and continued until the afternoon of the 9th, raining particularly hard on the morning of the 9th. Nevertheless, as planned we backtracked just a little up 190 to kilometer marker 244 in the hopes of seeing orange-breasted bunting and sumichrast's sparrow. We got out of the car for about 15 minutes and got great looks at stripe-headed sparrow and then decent looks at orange-breasted bunting.

Cuota Hwy to HUATULCO: As you head back out of Tehuantepec to kilometer marker 244 you'll see big signs for a highway to Huatulco. We had planned to go through Salina Cruz on the 9th, but decided we would try this new highway. It was about a 5 hour drive to the first entrance to Huatulco and we stopped for birding for about 1.5 hours. The highway was almost empty for quite a while, which was nice, for when the rain stopped we got some good birding in, particularly near overpasses. We saw several hooded orioles, scissor-tailed flycatchers, stripe-headed sparrows, orange-breasted buntings, caracara, inca dove, kestrel, great kiskadee, cassin's kingbird, groove-billed ani, cattle egret, black-throated grey warbler, gray hawk, yellow-winged caciques, streak-backed oriole, west mexican chachalaca, white pelicans soaring quite high and got great looks at a nightjar which I was sure I could identify later but was not able to. A short ways along the first entrance to Huatulco we saw a tree full of white-fronted parrots and a perched osprey.

La Crucecita and Bahia Chahue in HUATULCO: While eating an early dinner in the plaza in La Crucecita on the 9th we spotted a bird perched on top of a very tall antenna structure. It turned out to be a peregrine falcon and we put the scope up next to our outdoor table and a couple of other diners also had great looks. After dinner, we spent about an hour walking around and on a rock pier at Bahia Chahue, where we saw brown pelican, osprey, magnificent frigate bird, baird's sandpiper, semipalmated sandpipers, solitary sandpiper, black tern, neotropic cormorant.

Dirt path along concrete channel at end of Oaxaca street which runs along side of Hotel Meigas Binneguenda in Santa Cruz, HUATULCO: On the 10th, after about 4 1/2 hours of sleep thanks to some drunken and very loud college students we got up to check out a dirt path just up Oaxaca street, which borders the hotel we were staying at. We had checked on the 9th that the path was there and had seen, at the round area of grass where Oaxaca street ends, about one dozen orange-greasted buntings eating in the grass. We got very close to them, seeing them fine with the naked eye and the minutest details with our binoculars. In the morning we birded the path for about 3 hours, taking in 18 species: orange-breasted buntings, banded wren, rufous naped wren, west mexican chachalaca, cardinal, hooded oriole, inca dove, white-throated magpie jay, rufous hummingbird, tropical kingbird, citreoline trogan, yellow-winged cacique, blue grosbeack, swainson's thrush, grey hawk, hutton's vireo, plain-capped starthroat, golden-cheeked woodpecker.

Early evening at MONTE CARLO: After having a nice lunch on the 10th, we headed to Santa Maria Xadani where we met Efrem, one of the owners of the coffee farm MONTE CARLO. Due to the heavy rains, the road from Xadani to Monte Carlo was quite rough and Efrem took us up in his jeep. Efrem was also picking up Roque, a very talented Oaxacan birder and eco-guide, of whom I say more about above. We enjoyed our first late afternoon/evening at Monte Carlo very much. Even without the birds this place is an eden. However, in addition to getting acclimated to the surroundings and eating a fine meal we did get a little birding in. Below Xadani we had seen more orange-breasted buntings and at Monte Carlo itself we saw black-headed saltator, cinnamon sided hummingbird, social flycatcher, summer tanager, great kiskadee, olive-sided flycatcher and masked tityra. I should add that all of these birds were seen from either the terrace of the house or out of a window: some heavy rains kept us from venturing very far outside the house.

First morning at MONTE CARLO: On the 11th we had a nice early breakfast and headed out for 4 and 1/2 hours of birding, taking in 29 species, including: roadside hawk, black vulture, blue-grey gnatcatcher, ivory-billed wood creeper, banded wren, acorn woodpecker, pale-billed woodpecker, lineated woodpecker, cinnamon-sided hummingbird, green-fronted hummingbird, green jay, squirrel cuckoo, orange-fronted parakeet, russet-crowned motmot, golden vireo, nashville warbler, black & white warbler, macgillivray's warbler, wilson's warbler, yellow-breasted chat, fan-tailed warbler, white-throated robin, hooded oriole, audubon's oriole, yellow-winged cacique, olive-sided flycatcher, social flycatcher, great kiskadee and masked tityra.

Afternoon at MONTE CARLO: After morning birding on the 11th, we had a nice lunch, chatted and relaxed a while and then headed out for 3 hours of afternoon birding, including a hike to the wonderful waterfalls adjacent to Monte Carlo. We enjoyed seeing: long-billed starthroat, golden vireo, blue-headed vireo, western wood peewee, red-crowned ant tanager, collared trogon, greter peewee, ferruginous pygmy owl. We heard the owl while eating dinner and, after about a 100 meter walk, spent several minutes observing it.

Morning at MONTE CARLO: Well rested, we started out on the morning of the 12th for 3.5 hours of walking, our last walk this visit to Monte Carlo. We saw hooded oriole, wilsons's warbler, black & white warbler, brown creeper, white-throated magpie jay, green jay, masked tityra, yellow-winged cacique, black-headed saltator, white-tipped dove, bat falcon, yellow-throated vireo, golden vireo, sumichrast's sparrow and the gorgeous emerald toucanet. The sumichrast's sparrows, a pair sunning themselves in an opening in the forest, were a treat. We had hoped to see them at Tehuantepec, failed to do so, and now here, a bit out of range, sat two on a branch just above ground level. We watched them for several minutes before heading back to Monte Carlo.

From MONTE CARLO through PUERTO ANGEL to OAXACA CITY: We left around 10am from Monte Carlo, took Hwy 200 along the coast to Hwy 175 at Puerto Angel and took the later to Oaxaca City. We saw several new birds on the Hwy 175 segment of our 11 hour trip, including: (at km marker 175) lesser roadrunner, (at km 170) rusty sparrow, audubon oriole, (at km 150) tufted flycatcher, townsend's warbler, ivory-billed wood creepers, blue-throated hummingbird, brown-backed solitaire, (hiking down a trail a couple kilometers on the road leading off of Hwy 175 to Loxicha) wilson's warbler, bushtit, white-eared hummingbird, mountain trogan, brown-backed solitaire. At other sites along 175 we also saw slate-breasted redstart, olive warbler, another tufted flycatcher.

San Felipe Community Park, OAXACA CITY: On October 14th I went to the San Felipe Community Park for a few hours. I went back a ways on the trail which follows the river up the hill and then came back down and walked a paved road, which, when standing at the entrance to the park, leads off to the right. Here was seen 19 species: house finch, red-tailed hawk, lesser goldfinch, painted redstart, wilson's warbler, nashville warbler, black & white warbler, many yellow-rumped warblers, rufous-capped warbler, yellow warbler, blue-grey gnatcatcher, bushtit, say's phoebe, eastern phoebe, western peewee, rock wren, white-winged dove, white-throated towhee, berryline hummingbird.

ZAACHILA - Rio Chiquito to meeting point with Rio Atoyac: On the 15th, while my wife and mother in law were visiting some relatives in Zaachila I took a bicycle taxi to the edge of town, in front of an elementary school very near where the Rio Chiquito crosses under the road. I walked along this river until it met up with the Rio Atoyac and then made my way back, flagging down a bicycle taxi as I neared the spot I was let off at; a few hours in total. I saw 22 species here: inca dove, loggerhead shrike, great-tailed grackle, house finch, white-throated towhee, kestrel, lesser goldfinch, vermillion flycatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher, kiskadee, western kingbird, western peewee, say's phoebe, wilson's warbler, nashville warbler, blue-grey gnatcatcher, orchard oriole, groove-billed anni, raven, dickcissel, white-collared seedeater, blue-black grassquit.

Center of OAXACA CITY: During our stay in Oaxaca City, we saw western kingbird, grey silky and lesser goldfinch.

The list: 142 species, 24 endemics (49 new ones for us)

PELICANIDAE: (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) american white pelican; (Pelecanus occidentalis) brown pelican
PHALACROCORACIDAE: (Phalacrocorax brasilianus) neotropical cormorant
FREGATIDAE: (Fregata magnificens) magnificent frigate bird
ARDEIDAE: (Egretta alba egretta) great egret; (Egretta thula) snowy egret; (Bubulcus i. ibis) cattle egret
CATHARTIDAE: (Cathartes aura) turkey vulture; (Coragyps astratus) black vulture
ACCIPITRIDAE: (Pandion haliaetus) osprey; (Buteo nitidus) grey hawk; (Buteo magnirostris) roadside hawk; (Buteo brachyurus fuliginosus) short-tailed hawk; (Buteo jamaicensis) red-tailed hawk
FALCONIDAE: (Caracara plancus) crested caracara; (Falco sparverius) kestrel; (Falco rufigularis) bat falcon; (Falco peregrinus) peregrine falcon
CRACIDAE: (Ortalis poliocephala) west mexican chachalaca
RECURVIROSTRIDAE: (Himantopus m. mexicanus) black-necked stilt
JACANIDAE: (Jacana s. spinosa) northern jacana
SCOLOPACIDAE: (Tringa solitaria) solitary sandpiper; (Calidris pusilla) semipalmated sandpiper; (Calidris bairdii) baird's sandpiper
LARIDAE: (Sterna antillarum) least tern; (Chlidonias niger surinamensis) black tern
COLUMBIDAE: (Columba livia) rock dove; (Zenaida asiatica) white-winged dove; (Columbina inca) inca dove; (Leptotila verreauxi) white-tipped dove
PSITTACIDAE: (Aratinga canicularis) orange-fronted parakeet; (Amazona albifrons) white-fronted parrot
CUCULIDAE: (Piaya cayana) squirrel cuckoo; (Geococcyx velox) lesser roadrunner; (Crotophaga sulcirostris) groove-billed ani
STRIGIDAE: (Glaucidium griseiceps) ferruginous pygmy owl
TROCHILIDAE: (Bailinna leucotis) white-eared hummingbird; (Amazilia beryllina) berylline hummingbird; (Amazilia rutila) cinnamon hummingbird; (Amazilia viridifrons) green-fronted hummingbird; (Heliomaster longirostris) long-billed starthroat; (Heliomaster constantii) plain-capped starthroat; (Selasphorus rufus) rufous hummingbird; (Lampornis clemenciae) blue-throated hummingbird
TROGONIDAE: (Trogon citreolus) citreoline trogan; (Trogon mexicanus) mountain trogan; (Trogon collaris) collared trogon
MOMOTIDAE: (Momouts mexicanus) russet-crowned motmot
RAMPHASTIDAE: (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) emerald toucanet
PICIDAE: (Melanerpes formicivorus) acorn woodpecker; (Centurus chrysogenys) golden-cheeked woodpecker; (Centurus hypopolius) grey-breasted woodpecker; (Centurus aurifrons) golden-fronted woodpecker; (Picoides scalaris) ladder-backed woodpecker; (Dryocopus lineatus) lineated woodpecker; (Campephilus guatemalensis) pale-billed woodpecker
DENDROCOLAPTIDAE: (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster) ivory-billed woodcreeper
TYRANNIDAE: (Mitrephanes phaeocercus) tufted flycatcher; (Contopus borealis) olive-sided flycatcher; (Contopus pertinax) greater pewee; (Contopus sordidulus) western peewee; (Contopus virens) eastern phoebe; (Sayornis saya) say's phoebe; (Pyrocephalus rubinus) vermillion flycatcher; (Pitangus sulphuratus) great kiskadee; (Myiozetetes similis) social flycatcher; (Tyrannus melancholicus) tropical kingbird; (Tyrannus vociferans) cassin's kingbird; (Tyrannus verticlis) western kingbird; (Tyrannus forficatus) scissor-tailed flycatcher
COTINGIDAE: (Tityra semifasciata) masked tityra
HIRUNDINIDAE: (Progne chalybea) grey-breasted martin
CORVIDAE: (Cyanocorax morio) green jay; (Calocitta formosa) white-throated magpie jay; (Aphelocoma coerulescens) western scrub jay; (Corvus corax) northern raven
AEGITHALIDAE: (Psaltriparus minimus) bushtit
CERTHIDAE: (Certhia americana) brown creeper
TROGLODYTIDAE: (Campylorhynchus rufinucha) rufous-naped wren; (Campylorhynchus jocosus) boucard's wren; (Salpinctes obsoletus) rock wren; (Thryothorus pleurostictus) banded wren; (Thryomanes bewickii) bewick's wren
SYLVIIDAE: (Polioptila caerulea) blue-gray gnatcatcher
TURDIDAE: (Myadestes occidentalis) brown backed solitaire; (Catharus ustulatus) swainson's thrush; (Turdus assimilis) white-throated thrush; (Turdus rufopalliatus) rufous-backed thrush
MIMIDAE: (Mimus polyglottos leucopterus) northern mockingbird; (Toxostoma curvirostre) curve-billed thrasher
PTILOGONATIDAE: (Ptilogonys cinereus) grey silky
LANIIDAE: (Lanius ludovicianus) loggerhead shrike
VIREONIDAE: (Vireo huttoni) hutton's vireo; (Vireo hypochryseus) golden vireo; (Vireo s. solitarius) blue-headed vireo; (Vireo flavifrons) yellow-throated vireo
PARULINAE: (Vermivora ruficapilla) nashville warbler; (Dendroica petechia) yellow warbler; (Dendroica coronata) yellow-rumped warbler; (Dendroica nigrescens) black-throated gray warbler; (Dendroica townsendi) townsend's warbler; (Mniotilta varia) black and white warbler; (Seiurus aurocapillus) ovenbird; (Oporornis tolmiei) macgillivray's warbler; (Wilsonia pusilla) wilson's warbler; (Myioborus pictus) painted redstart; (Myioborus miniatus) slate-breasted redstart; (Basileuterus lachrymosa) fan-tailed warbler; (Basileuterus rufifrons) rufous-capped warbler; (Icteria virens) yellow-breasted chat; (Peucedramus taeniatus) olive warbler
THRAUPINAE: (Habia rubica) red-crowned ant tanger; (Piranga flava) hepatic tanager; (Piranga rubra) summer tanager; (Spermagra erythrocephala) red-headed tanager
CARDINALINAE: (Saltator atriceps) black-headed saltator; (Cardinalis cardinalis) northern cardinal; (Pheucticus melanocephalus) black-headed grosbeak; (Passerina caerulea) blue grosbeak; (Colorin pechinaranja) orange-breasted bunting; (Spiza americana) dicksissel
EMBERIZINAE: (Pipilo fuscus) canyon towhee; (Pipilo albicollis) white-throated towhee; (Volatinia jacarina spendens) blue-black grassquit; (Sporophila torqueola) white-collared seedeater; (Aimophila mystacalis) bridled sparrow; (Aimophila ruficauda) stripe-headed sparrow; (Aimophila sumichrasti) sumichrast's sparrow; (Aimophila rufescens) rusty sparrow
ICTERIDAE: (Sturnella magna) eastern meadowlark; (Quiscalus mexicanus) great-gailed grackle; (Icterus spurious) orchard oriole; (Icterus cucullatus) hooded oriole; (Icterus wagleri) black-vented oriole; (Icterus graduacauda) audubon's (black-headed) oriole; (Icterus pustulatus) streak-backed oriole; (Icterus bullockii) bullock's oriole; (Icterus b. abeillei) abeillei oriole; (Amblycercus melanicterus) yellow-winged cacique
FRINGILLIDAE: (Capodacus mexicanus) house finch; (Carduelis psaltria) lesser goldfinch
PASSERIDAE: (Passer d. domesticus) house sparrow