Highlands of Mexico

Highlands of Mexico A Hundred Million Monarchs A Greentours Tour Report 7th – 22nd February 2011 Led by Ian Green & Eric Miranda Day 1 February 7 th Departure – sort of! A slightly tardy take-off at Heathrow, however we soon encountered a problem as a lady sitting behind me suffered a serious health issue. Though the stewards tried to get the take-off aborted the pilot had already revved up the engines and was accelerating down the runway, no time to pull-out now when you are in a 747! The lady's situation was researched and monitored during the next few minutes and as we flew northwards on the great circle route that took us over Scotland it was decided that she should get immediate medical help so the flight was diverted to Prestwick. The pilot did rather well to land the fully laden jumbo, complete with a virtually full fuel tank on Prestwick's runway. Paramedics were soon taking the rather less poorly woman into their care. Then we sat there for hours as the BA crew and hierachy went to plan B (take-off later in the afternoon) and then plan C as first pilots and then crew ran out of allowed work time and it was found that the landing gear needed one and a half hours to pump up again such was the pressure exerted on it during landing. Of course, the only guy licensed to do this in Scotland didn't have his mobile on. So after four hours sat on the runway we were sent to a hotel in nearby Irvine, a pleasant enough hotel, there for the golfers of Royal Troon! So we settled in for the night. Day 2 February 8 th Departure – the sequel! We returned to Prestwick where all check-in-ers had been called into deal with the very large number of passengers in a jumbo. Eventually we were boarded by one o'clock and only then did we encounter a situation where perhaps BA let us down – we couldn't take-off because the truck carrying supplies from Glasgow hadn't arrived. Eventually we took off at two, arriving into Mexico City only twenty-five hours after our scheduled arrival. We sped to the Grand Prix and settled in for the night! Day 3 February 9 th Laguna Maria We left the comforts of the Grand Prix at the allotted five-thirty, and just minutes later were at the check-in in Terminal 2 at Mexico City Airport. Our double change of ticket presented no problem and so we were soon checked in and through security and able to discuss the day's 1 events as if they would actually happen! Soon we were on our turboprop, a little eighty-seater affair that meant most of us had window views. We were soon rising up past Popacatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl as the sun rose. Then we turned west and headed along the Neovolcanic axis of Central Mexico. The flight provided a marvellous panorama of this rather spectacular geographical feature and we were able to pick out numerous volcanic cones, some quite large, many small, but perfectly formed. At one point we passed Tancítaro and its subsidiary cone, Paricutín, and could see smoke rising from lots of little vents. We would visit this famous little volcano, which only appeared in 1943, some days later. Next the plane turned a little to follow a valley down to Colima whilst on our right the two great cones of the Nevado de Colima and El Fuego, both giant stratovolcanoes, rose above a thin layer of cloud. It was like a breath of fresh air, stepping out onto the tarmac at Colima's small, friendly, and dare we say it, rather beautiful little airport. Crested Caracaras patrolled one end of the runway and whilst we awaited (for just a minute or two) our baggage we watched Ruddy Ground Doves and Social Flycatchers as well as the beautifully marked Stripe-headed Sparrow. We met up with Eric, Beto and Christina in the entrance hall (were they the only people there?) and so soon they were packing up the minibus in the car park as we watched various birds go by, these including a pair of Mexican Parrotlets. We drove just a short distance out of the terminal before stopping for a picnic breakfast. This was delicious, but whilst we waited Eric's superb cheese, squash blossom and avocado tacos, we had our first chance to take in the local fauna and flora. Black and Turkey Vultures cruised overhead whilst three Wood Storks sat atop a dead-looking tree. Various Eurema yellows gave us an indication of the likely variety present though the skippers were equally hard to nail down! El Fuego loomed above us as we drove steadily uphill along quiet lanes and through small colourful villages, everywhere seemed covered in a riotous assemblage of vegetation, though being 'winter' here (26°C!), it also looked very dry, as the rains fall here in the summer. Spectacular Tabebuia donnel-smithii , completely leafless but covered, quite literally, in magnificent yellow flowers, caused much comment and eventually we stopped to photograph a nice specimen. One could easily have spent all day stopping along this road but we needed to get to the Laguna and so an hour's drive from the airport later we pulled into the little cobbled lane that runs up to the Laguna Maria. The volcano now appeared very close and the surrounding habitats looked very exciting as birds flung themselves out of our path. Laguna is a very birdy place! We settled into Laguna Maria's new rooms, set in a line looking down across the scrub towards the green lagoon set in a volcanic vent and surrounded on three sides by crumbling volcanic ash cliffs covered in a rich forest. The rooms were exceedingly spacious, made all the more so by the almost complete lack of furniture! As Eric, Christina and Beto set about making a lunch time picnic for us, we took a late morning stroll down to the laguna, just two hundred metres away. Nigel was already finding butterflies before we’d left the verandah outside our rooms. Lots of tiny Dainty Sulphurs and then a Monarch – Oh no its not! A Monarch-mimic, the smaller and darker Queen! We had our first acquaintance with the Monarch's food plant. This the pretty orange and yellow milkweed Asclepias currasavica . Our first blues were noted, unlike the incredibly diverse groups of many other butterflies here, the blues only come in a few species, though all are common. Our first were Eastern Tailed Blues. Spotted Wrens came out to play and we saw lots of Nashville and Yellow-rumped Warblers. The brilliant scarlet and black ball that is a male Vermilion 2 Flycatcher in display mode wowed its audience and we also enjoyed blue and orange Eastern Bluebirds. Above, vultures were common and then an Osprey whisked across the slopes before we watched no less than three Grey Hawks soaring above the vent's slopes. A superb green and black Zebra Heliconid was our first 'exotic' butterfly then a larger bright orange butterfly sped past, a Julia. We started to see crescents, both Texas and Ardent, and the barred Banded Mapwing sped past. Cassin's Kingbirds introduced us to the flycatcher group, with many species in this area, some days we'd see ten or more. The lovely yellow and orange pendant flowers of Lobelia laxiflora , the plants sometimes several feet tall, and the scarlet bells of both Bouvardias and Loeselias , all attracted hummingbirds. These zippy little birds are sometimes difficult to follow so quickly do they move, but when you do get a view, its good – at least one Berylline Hummingbird gave most 'scope views. Close by the laguna we realised that there is a tremendous variety of trees in this forest, all sorts that we couldn't identify, and several different figs, some of the most majestic with giant Tillandsia imperialis with fabulous upright flower spikes. On the same trees were many ferns, epiphytic Piperaceae , even epiphytic cacti! There were orchids too, though very few were in flower and those were high above us. We found a male Williamson's Sapsucker and Grey-crowned Woodpeckers, the latter one of a number of bird species seen during the morning endemic to the West Mexican thorn forests. The ringed tailed ground squirrels Spermophilus annunlatus were seen several times and a new skipper was a Turk's-cap White Skipper. Walking back a little late for lunch I saw a pair of Olive-green Woodpeckers and a pair of Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows in the shade of a coffee plantation and then disturbed a group of around fifteen White-nosed Coatimundis that were foraging noisily amongst the very dry leaf litter not a hundred metres from our rooms. After Eric's excellent picnic in the grounds we had a break before meeting up for a short drive up the volcano. Leaving the Laguna Maria and turning a bend in the road one is immediately confronted by El Fuego's perfect and very steep cone. Today all was quiet though it still looked impressive against a pure blue sky. We drove a few minutes up the dirt track and then got out to explore. We walked down a quiet side track to a shallow but steep-sided barranca, a mini- canyon. On the way we passed a few birds but more notable were the orchids. We found two pretty species growing on the small trees near the barranca's edge, these Prostechea concolor and Stellis retusa .

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