Guanajuato Birding Adventure – Las Fuentes!

APRIL 6
Alas, Saturday was to be our last day of birding. It’d been a great week in good company and was very well-led by Rodrigo Lopez of Travelian Tours. Our destination was Las Fuentes, a deciduous and subtropical scrub forest in the Bajio region of Guanajuato. First of all, we had a stop to make in order to pick up our young ranger, Edith Gutierrez.

As we drove slowly through the village of Juventino Rosas, we watched for birds and soon stopped the vehicle to walk. A Black-throated Gray Warbler was very active and difficult to track down for a photo but Joanne was successful.

Black-throated Gray Warbler
Photo courtesy of Joanne Redwood

On the dusty road ahead, we spotted our first Common Ground-Dove of the week. We studied it in comparison with the omnipresent Inca Doves.

A Greater Roadrunner called repeatedly. We’d already seen one earlier in the week, which was good as this bird refused to show itself although it came very close in the dense scrub. I’ll take the liberty of showing you a photo from south Texas a few years ago.

Truth be told, I had a terrible day with my camera so I’ll supplement our sightings at Las Fuentes with some photos from other trips to San Miguel de Allende and a few donations from our participants.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker
San Miguel de Allende

Gray Silky-flycatcher
San Miguel de Allende

Black-headed Grosbeak
Photo courtesy of Joanne Redwood

Dusky Flycatcher
Photo courtesy of Joanne Redwood

Lark Sparrow
Photo courtesy of Joanne Redwood

Bob, our warbler addict, wandered off at one point. Sometimes, when you drift away from the group, you miss a good bird. Not Bob! He found a cooperative Yellow-breasted Chat. Unfortunately, Bob was having trouble with his camera and was disappointed in the quality of his photograph.

Yellow-breasted Chat
Photo courtesy of Bob Bell

As we headed back to the van, I quietly stepped onto a small bridge. There was a pond on one side and thick trees on the other. My birding ‘spidey sense’ tingled. I froze and realized that I was face to face with this young Cooper’s Hawk, which glowed almost white in a shaft of sunlight.

I can’t wrap up our Guanajuato Birding Adventure without a mention of Manuel ‘Manny’ Ramirez, our driver. Cheerful, careful and courteous, Manny also spotted several species for us over the course of the week and was an excellent birding companion.

Rodrigo took this group photo before we boarded the van and returned to our hotel. I’m not sure where Anne and Robert were hiding when this photo was taken but they can be seen in our group shot from Peña Alta in an earlier post. Norman is also absent as he was unable to join us for our final day. We all looked forward to a relaxing afternoon, which was followed by our Farewell Dinner on the rooftop patio of El Pegaso in the heart of San Miguel de Allende.

Most of our group tallied 50 or 60+ lifers in Guanajuato and every birder loves to see new life birds. However, a special element of our experience was Rodrigo’s support of the local initiatives for sustainable birding and related environmental practices. It was a pleasure to meet and bird with our Mexican friends.

Did I mention that most of our group are members of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, which is celebrating it’s 100th year? The 2019 Ontario Field Ornithologists convention is taking place in Hamilton this September. Rodrigo will be visiting Hamilton and attending the convention. Make sure you say hello, if you’re there.

Are you interested in birding Mexico with Rodrigo, Manny and myself? Plans are in the works for next March and our destination will be the Sierra Gorda de Queretaro Biosphere Reserve. This region is fairly close to San Miguel de Allende and features many different species that we didn’t find in Guanajuato. We’ll bird the area for a week and there will be a three or four day San Miguel de Allende extension. The extension will be comprised of birding and enjoying the sights, markets and restaurants of this beautiful and safe town. Details will be available soon! Thanks for following along with our adventure and please leave a comment.

Guanajuato Birding Adventure – Cuenca de la Esperanza!

APRIL 5
Our destination for the day was the Cuenca de la Esperanza Nature Reserve, high in the mountains and another pine-oak habitat. This is considered to be one of the best spots for birding in Guanajuato and we weren’t to be disappointed.

We were joined by park ranger Braulio Perez. Braulio is responsible for a wide array of duties, which include guiding visitors, maintaining trails and conducting bird and mammal censuses. Also joining us was Carolyn of the Peace Corps. She’s in charge of an environmental education program for kids at a primary school in the community of Santa Rosa, which is within the limits of Cuenca de La Esperanza. Carolyn manages an orchard in nearby Las Palomas, as well.

We weren’t out of the van long before birds appeared. This Spotted Towhee sang us a cheerful greeting.

Our starting point was very high up, at the top of a mountain. As we descended, vista after vista opened up for us as Band-tailed Doves careened past overhead. The forest canopy was often at eye-level on our left as we worked our way down to the valley floor.

The birding was excellent. Garrulous, inquisitive gangs of Mexican Jays were never far away. As a Bridled Titmouse entertained us in one tree, a Hermit Warbler surprised us as it popped up to see what all of the fuss was about. A pair of Hepatic Tanagers foraged close to the trail.

A real highlight for me was this Brown-backed Solitaire. I’d seen this species in west Mexico in the past but always from well below as they loafed about in the canopy. It was a treat to view this creature from slightly above as it trembled it’s wings and sang it’s lusty but rather grating song!

The valley floor yielded many more good birds and a very special one, as well as a real ID challenge, was this Pine Flycatcher.

Speaking of ID challenges, do you know what species of lizard this is? I may have to submit it to iNaturalist.

There was only one problem with birding this fabulous location. It was a pleasure to slowly wind our way down the steep trail but, eventually, we had to go back up. We managed it at a relaxed birding pace and gathered at the top where we met David Guzman. David is State Coordinator of the Natural Protected Areas of Guanajuato. He coordinates programs and policies for natural preserves statewide. He also poses for photographs and did so before we made our way back to San Miguel de Allende.

Carolyn, Braulio, Rodrigo Lopez and David (L to R)

Guanajuato Birding Adventure – La Huerta!

APRIL 4
Our site for Thurday morning was La Huerta and it was just a short drive from San Miguel de Allende. La huerta is Spanish for orchard. It’s a community on the southern edge of the SM de Allende municipality. The lower Laja river crosses this area from north to south creating a riparian habitat which attracts different birds from those found up on the plateau where the main town and the Charco del Ingenio are located. This region has been inhabited by Chichimeca people for a long time. Besides agriculture and commerce as ways to earn a living, they make handcrafts out of the reeds that grow along the river. More specifically, they use Carrizo (Arundo donax), a fast growing perennial cane used to make baskets and fences. The place that we visited for birding is a nursery owned by a kind local, Louis Franke. His business specializes in growing plants such as cacti and succulents for semi-arid environments.

It’s a lovely spot and we started getting good looks at birds around the buildings that overlooked the river valley.

Blue Mockingbirds were fairly abundant in the area but they can be real skulkers. Eventually, we were delighted to see a few enjoying the sunshine and one or two serenaded us!

We descended into the valley and continued to find some lovely birds. My camera wasn’t always up to the task but our many highlights of the morning included MacGillivray’s and Rufous-capped Warblers, Cordilleran Flycatcher and Streak-backed Orioles. Joanne managed this photo of a Black-throated Gray Warbler, which was way up in the canopy.

We made a special stop on the way home; Los Frailes. This community borders the large reservoir/lake called Presa Allende. Our target was Monk Parakeet and Rodrigo knew the location of the nest.

These attractive and garrulous birds entertained us for a while before we tore ourselves away to check out the water.

It was nice to see more of the immediate area today. Not to mention the shorter trip there and back. Lots of lifers were recorded and everyone was looking forward to our next destination. We’ll be back up in the mountains at Cuenca de la Esperanza.

Guanajuato Birding Adventure – Lake Yuriria!

APRIL 3
Once again, it was an early start from our hotel as we headed to the southern area of the state of Guanajuato. We looked forward to some wetland birding along the shore of Lake Yuriria. Our drive took us through a broad valley of lush agricultural lands ringed by distant mountains. We met Jose Ojeda Orranti outside a school on the edge of the wetland. Jose is an Environmental Services Expert and works for the Environmental Ministry of Guanajuato as coordinator of the Natural Protected Area of Yuriria. He also runs a statewide research program that studies the Golden Eagle. He’s an excellent birder and was good company.

The birding was very good. A combination of a bad cold and my indifferent photography skills produced a rather skimpy selection of photographs but I managed a few highlights.

It was a pleasant morning and I enjoyed being by the water. We’d passed fishermen earlier, as they returned from the lake, and their fresh catch was on the way to the town market. The lake was calm but I wouldn’t want to be out in one of these small skiffs on a stormy day.

My bird of the day showed itself as we surveyed this scrubby, rocky slope alongside the trail. It was active and elusive; a very handsome Rusty-capped Ground-Sparrow. I felt fortunate to take an identifiable photo as the bird darted about the shadowy brush.

As we wandered back along the trail, we were forced to make room for a cattle drive (including goats).

Eventually, lunch beckoned and we went into the nearby town of Yuriria. As we seated ourselves on the restaurant patio, a party of friendly Mexican diners addressed us in English. A few of them had worked in the States and their warm greeting and curiosity about our origins was typical of the local hospitality in Guanajuato.

Lunch was delicious and we walked it off with a stroll around the ancient Augustinian Monastery. If it looks like a fortress, it’s because it was a fortress and was used to convert and pacify the local population. It was closed for our visit so we were unable to tour the interior courtyard and arcades.

Time to get back to San Miguel de Allende! My next post will describe our day in La Huerta. Stay tuned!

Guanajuato Birding Adventure – Peña Alta!

APRIL 2
Last year, I visited Peña Alta with Rodrigo Lopez of Travelian Tours and Barry Knapp. We had a terrific day of birding. Peña Alta is a Natural Protected Area and is at a higher elevation than San Miguel de Allende. It’s a transition area from semi-arid scrub forest to semi-arid oak and pine forest.

I was looking forward to visiting Peña Alta again and it was our destination for the second full day of our Guanajuato Birding Adventure. Enroute, we stopped to pick up our local ranger, Aurora Hernandez at the village of San Franco. Our crew was additionally augmented with Anna, a Peace Corps volunteer who was in her seventh month of a two year stint.

We headed up a road bordered on one side by a scrub-covered ridge and, on the other, by a large reservoir. We didn’t get very far, at all. The birding was excellent.

Eventually, we moved on and stopped again at a stream by an old aquaduct; a leafy, riparian habitat. Another birder, Jaime Torres, joined us. Jaime is assigned by the Guanajuato Environmental Ministry to facilitate the training of the rangers such as Aurora. He also coordinates a program that trains every home in the village to create their own organic vegetable garden based on sustainable practices that preserve the minerals of the soil by rotating the crops. On top of this, a few selected families have been trained to prepare and present dishes with a touristic perspective.

Back to birds, we had several more good sightings and here are just a few of them.

The terrain changed gradually as our van climbed towards Peña Alta. Pine trees appeared and, before long, we were in a mature pine-oak forest flanked by rocky cliffs and outcrops.

Acorn Woodpeckers were sought and found. Their clown-like facial pattern makes them irresistible.

We worked hard and put in an extra effort to find an Olive Warbler. We succeeded but it was very difficult to obtain photographs due to the lighting, the restless activity of the bird and the fact that it stayed up high. Ed O’Connor contributed this photo of the warbler as well as one of an Ash-throated Flycatcher.

Olive Warbler
Photo courtesy of Ed O’Connor

Ash-throated Flycatcher
Photo courtesy of Ed O’Connor

An early start and lots of hiking makes a group of birders hungry. Our delicious and filling lunch was prepared on the spot by a local family.

We continued to bird following our repast before it was time to head back to San Miguel de Allende. Another great day and several more to come!

Guanajuato Birding Adventure – El Charco del Ingenio!

APRIL 1
El Charco del Ingenio is a 170 acre nature preserve just outside of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. I’ve been taking groups of Canadian watercolour painters to SMA for fifteen years or so. When my teaching schedule allows me a free day, I grab a taxi and arrive at El Charco by 7am. My birding friends have been hearing my praises of this beautiful spot for years and I was delighted to share it with our group on the second day of our Guanajuato Birding Adventure.

Trails wind through the scrub-covered slopes and a groomed botanical garden with a greenhouse anchors one end of the property. An old reservoir, contained by a dam, is dotted with heavily-treed islands and is a significant wetland habitat. One end of the reservoir is pastoral with flocks of sheep and crops. The other end descends dramatically into a deep, riparian gorge. Pathways along the top of the gorge lead to a lookout over SMA. The far side of the reservoir is dotted with the ruins of ancient haciendas.

We were picked up early at our hotel by Rodrigo and Manuel. Enroute, we stopped and added one more birder to our company, Norman Besman. Norman is originally from the States and he and his wife have lived in SMA for ten years. He’s active with the local Audubon Society and his knowledge and experience with the birds of Guanajuato was a real asset.

We found 74 species at El Charco in about 4 1/2 hours, which included our breakfast break of fresh omelets at the cafe. It was hot but we had lots of water and electrolytes on hand. Here are some of the species we encountered as well as a few photos of the area.

Rodrigo Lopez updating our eBird checklist

Canyon Towhees are very common on the trails

Green-tailed Towhees are much less common and not as confiding

Great Kiskadees are seen and heard frequently

Black-vented Oriole. The orioles are very active in the morning but can be difficult to photograph. We also saw Bullock’s and Hoodeds.

Black-chinned Sparrow gathering nesting material

Verdin can be elusive as they explore the cacti

Cactus Wrens. We could almost always hear their rather ominous and somewhat mechanical cha-cha-cha-cha-cha

Black-eared Bushtit. The sunlight is washing out the black ear.

Cassin’s Kingbirds are ubiquitous and other kingbird species are very uncommon in the region

Curve-billed Thrashers are not shy and sing throughout the morning

Ash-throated Flycatchers can be quite gregarious but I had trouble getting one to pose for me

I hope you’re enjoying this selection of birds. Before I wrap up this post, here are a few denizens of the reservoir.

I’ll conclude with this stunning White-faced Ibis. Every evening, long and broken vees of hundreds of these birds pass by the Parroquia (main cathedral) of San Miguel de Allende, on their way to their overnight roosts.

We took it easy for the afternoon. About 5:30pm, I took a few of our birders to the main park in town, Parque Benito Juarez, before dinner. I’ll tell you a bit about birding the park in another post. Meanwhile, stay tuned for our third day of birding the state of Guanajuato. Peña Alta is coming up!

Guanajuato Birding Adventure! March 31 – April 7, 2019

Last year, during an annual visit to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I met Rodrigo Lopez of Travelian Tours. He was introduced to me by Barry Knapp, a Colorado birder who spends a few winter months in SMA with his artist wife, Kaye. Rodrigo took Barry and I to a pine-oak habitat called Peña Alta for a day of birding. The birding was great (more about Peña Alta in a future post) and we were joined by Aurora Hernandez, a park ranger and local resident who had been trained through a special program promoting local stewardship of national parks. We broke for lunch under a shady awning by a large reservoir. Lunch was prepared by a local family who had been trained to offer delicious food in a hygienic manner in order to suit our delicate Canadian and American stomachs.

Rodrigo and I hit it off. He’s a very warm and considerate person and his guiding and birding skills were top-notch. He told me more about the new programs in the region’s parks and their focus on sustainable birding and local stewardship. We threw some ideas around and, bit by bit, the Guanajuato Birding Adventure was born. Guanajuato is a state and the capital city shares the name. San Miguel de Allende is a town in the state of Guanajuato and it would be the base for our trip. This was to be the first-ever birding trip devoted to Guanajuato.

MARCH 31, 2019
Rodrigo and I, as well as our ever-cheerful driver Manuel, met six incoming birders from Ontario at Mexico City airport. Our group was comprised of six members of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club (including myself) and one experienced birder from the east end of Toronto. It’s a long drive to SMA; three and a half to four hours depending on traffic. Although all were tired from their early morning flight, we stopped about an hour north of Mexico City at a large lake/reservoir named Zumpango.

It was Sunday afternoon and the berm around the lake was busy with families enjoying picnics, riding horses and burros and even fishing with nets. The water was covered with birds and it was an exciting start to our trip.

I use a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS and I don’t consider myself to be a gifted photographer, by any means. Still, what’s a birding blog without photos? We recorded 28 species at Zumpango and here are a few of them.

Clark’s Grebe – Rodrigo counted 71 of these lovely birds

Initially, I had promoted this trip to newer birders and to birders who hadn’t traveled extensively. I knew that several of our species can be seen in Ontario as you can see from this selection of photos. However, all of our birders recorded a few lifers at Zumpango and we weren’t even in Guanajuato state yet.

Eventually, we arrived in SMA and checked in to our comfortable and welcoming hotel. We walked across the street a while later and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Hecho en Mexico, a popular restaurant decorated with paintings by the late Canadian artist and figure skater, Toller Cranston.

We were a tired group after dinner but all looked forward to an early start the next morning. Our destination was El Charco del Ingenio, a botanical garden and superb birding site just outside of town. Stay tuned!