Highlands of Mexico Wildlife Tour Report Birdwatching Butterfly
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Highlands of Mexico A Hundred Million Monarchs A Greentours Tour Report 6th – 21st February 2013 Led by Ian Green & Eric Miranda Day 1 February 6th Departure We departed Heathrow on time and headed across the North Atlantic, making landfall in a very cold and snowy looking Labrador before heading south through Canada and the USA and into the Gulf of Mexico, landing just a little early in Mexico City. By eight or so we'd met up with Eric and then we were into the Gran Prix and enjoying some Aztec Soup! Day 2 February 7th Colima & Laguna Maria We left the comforts of the Grand Prix at the allotted five o'clock, and just minutes later arrived into Terminal 2 at Mexico City Airport. We were soon checked in and through security and on our turboprop, a little eighty-seater affair that meant most of us had window views. Popacatapetl loomed snow-clad above the city but we soon turned our back on it and headed west. Volcan Toluca stretching 17000 feet into the sky above the city of the same name made a spectacular sight. Valle de Bravo lake appeared and then we were up and over the forested Sierras that held the wintering monarchs, then we went right over the top of Tancitaro, a 13,000 foot now extinct volcano. The tops of El Fuego and Nevado de Colima were beautifully lit on the other side of the other aircraft. 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. Whilst we awaited (for just a minute or two) our baggage we watched Common Ground Doves and Social Flycatchers as well as the beautifully marked Stripe-headed Sparrow. A Streak-backed Oriole was a nice surprise. We then drove just a short distance out of the terminal before stopping for a picnic breakfast. This was our first chance to properly take in the local fauna and flora. Black and Turkey Vultures cruised overhead whilst two Wood Storks sat atop a tree . Eurema yellows fluttered about the roadside as we set about this new avifauna. A Loggerhead Shrike was first up and there were Orange- crowned and Nashville Warblers in the nearby trees. Two Black-cheeked Woodpeckers appeared in the trees around us alongside Hooded Oriole and a female Rose-throated Beccard. El Fuego loomed above us as we drove steadily uphill long quiet lanes and through small colourful villages, everywhere seemed covered in a riotous assemblage of vegetation, though being 'winter' here (20°C!) it was the dry season and the grasses looked brown. Nevertheless there were plenty of blooms along the roadside as we went, Leonotis, various Convolvulaceae, and Lopezias. One could easily have spent all day stopping along this road but we needed to get Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 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. Below us lay a green lagoon, and a nearer water tank, 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! Only two large beds in each and a small table – and acres of floor space! We took a late morning stroll down to the laguna, just two hundred metres away. We looked at Asclepias curassavica the Monarch butterfly’s food plant and watched Crescents (like little fritillaries) settling in the grass. Dainty Sulphurs and Barred Yellows fluttered close to the ground. A Green Kingfisher was spotted across the dammed pond which also hosted Blue- winged Teal and Least Grebes. Now we were introduced to the local flycatchers – there were to be many of these! We started off with the lovely Tufted Flycatcher, the brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher, and some confusing Empidonax, with Willow and either Cordilleran or Pacific Slope seen. Colourful and noisy Social Flycatchers were everywhere and we liked the little Buff- breasted Flycatcher and there were also Western Wood-Pewees and lots of Cassin's Kingbirds. Next it was the turn of warblers with several Wilson's Warblers showing as well as Black and White, Nashville and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We reached the lagoon and some trees alongside the track here were very attractive to Berylline Hummingbirds and a surprise was a Cinnamon Hummingbird. We watched a Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow at very close quarters. We formed a semi-circle around it as it delved determinedly in some leaf-letter apparently oblivious to the surrounding banks of cameras! A Gray Hawk flew overhead whilst out on the water were a bunch of Cinnamon Teal and an Osprey flew over. As Eric, Ivan and Beto prepared our picnic on the shore of the lagoon (delicious tacos with chicken and salad) we looked at the butterflies on the shore - one or two Julias flew past and there were several Zebra Heliconids flashing green and black. There were lots of crescents down by the water, these included Ardent, Orange-patch and Black Crescents. The picnic site was just that, so there were benches and shade, and huge fig trees above these. These contained immense bromeliads, Tillandsia prodigiosa, and lots of orchid leaves though only one species in flower, the little purple Maxillaria variabilis. We sauntered back to the rooms for a break. During the break I spent a while photographing the clearwing butterfly Thick-tipped Greta which was common along a stream. We met at four 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. This afternoon 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. We took a while covering the first few metres for we soon realized that there were hummingbirds visiting the little patches of red Loeselia flowers. First we could hear the sharp aggressive calls of Berylline Hummingbirds but it took a while before could actually see something more than a glimpse. We all eventually got good ‘scope views. We could hear softer calls though and these were coming from little Selasphorus hummers, and we were able to get views of two Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird, this species couplet difficult to tell apart visually. The similar but very delicate Calliope Hummingbird was among them, this one perched so close to us we were able to study every Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 feather! Four species of hummingbird were in the overgrown corner of a field. We found two pretty orchids growing on the small lichen-encrusted acacias alongside the track, both yellow Oncidiums, one was the tiny but lovely hyalinobulbon and the other was a large species similar to cavendishianum but with smaller and differently shaped leaves. In the canyon we were hoping to see the furry mats of harvestmen that populate the canyon walls some years, but this year we found them in the grass alongside the track – a very strange sight as the grass writhed with the thousands and thousands of tiny-bodied but long-legged harvestmen. It showed that they probably live socially rather than the barranca masses being a special gathering, there was much discussion as to why they should do this and why en-masse harvestmen would be a benefit to the species. No definitive answers there. We descended into the canyon and walked a little way up the dry canyon bed. Both Nutting's and Dusky-capped Flycatchers were seen but otherwise it was unusually quiet for this usually birdy spot. We did have great views of Brown-backed Solitaires before we left as well as a White-tailed Hawk perched in a tree. We found a dead Surprising White in the river gravels and saw the prints of a number of smaller animals. Putting out the trap camera I saw a bunch of White-nosed Coatis and heard a similar number of Mottled Owls. Day 3 February 8th Los Asmoles Dry Forest, Boca de Apiza & Playa Mezcala Pre-breakfast we met up at the entrance gate at 7.15 though even this apparently relaxed start was really a little early for the birds. The sun was not yet lighting the landscape though the day had already dawned clear and sunny and warm. The cone of El Fuego looked magnificent and at eight o'clock we were treated to little bit of an eruption as ash billowed out of the volcano's top, a strong cross wind (nothing down where we were) pushed the eruptive material sideways. The birdlife along this stretch of road in the morning is phenomenal. Today's brief tryst with it started with the commoner species, so we were soon learning to tell Cassin's Kingbird and Thick-billed Kingbirds apart – there was a good number of the latter. There were Social Flycatchers as well as Kiskadees. As soon as the sun hit the tree tops we were in for non-stop action.