Please accept apologies for the broken text in the previous post.
Hopefully this will work better
CENTRAL MEXICO DECEMBER 1999
A nine day journey took us through the states of Guerrero, Michoacan,
Morelos and Mexico from Dec. 22, 1999-Jan 1, 2000. We had three goals
that we were hoping to accomplish: visit "El Rosario" (the Monarch
butterfly sanctuary) near Angangueo, bird and spent some restful time on
the beach. As often is the case, the third goal suffered due to lack of
time.
Since many of you responded to my RFI with requests of your own for a
detailed trip report, I have prepared a second version of this report
that includes specific information that may be helpful in the
non-birding aspects of a trip like this. Those of you who are interested
can E-mail me for a copy.
The Monarch Sanctuary located near Angangueo (about a 2 1/2- 3 hour
drive from Mex. City) is a simply amazing sight. Millions of Monarchs
decend on this area in the mountains (over 10,000 feet) during the
winter. Trees are literally dripping with these insects, in some cases
bending branches from the weight and obscuring tree trunks due to the
large numbers. When a gust of wind would pass through it would kick up
thousands of the Monarchs and fill the air with these beautiful animals
. Birds of note seen in town and at the site were: WHITE-EARED
HUMMINGBIRDS, RED WARBLERS.
With the first goal accomplished we were ready to set out to do some
birding. We wanted to visit the Lerma Marshes first. This is a site
that is in Howell's great book " A Bird-Finding Guide To Mexico". We
followed his directions and wanted to add that when you make the left
hand turn onto the road to Mexicalzingo, you will then have to make a
left at a junction in the first town. If you follow the road signs
you'll be fine. Also when you get into Almoloya it's a little confusing.
There's a road off to your right when you enter town, it's best to pass
that up and head into the center and then head out of town (still on the
main road) to the turnoff explained in Howell. We got there early in the
morning and the fog obscured the causeway. It took us about 1/2 hour to
locate it. There is a chain across the access to the causeway. Even
though some of these marshes have been drained, they are still a
fabulous place to bird. Aside from seeing the hoped for BLACK-POLLED
YELLOWTHROAT, there were 40-50 SORA, KING RAIL, BLACK-CHESTED SPARROWS
and a wide variety of the expected marsh species. This was as good a
spot as we saw on the trip.
>From the marshes we headed to La Cima and the site for the Sierra Madre
Sparrow. At La Cima (site 8.4 in Howell) we were able to see three
SIERRA MADRE SPARROWS, though there was not much else there. From this
spot we headed down the road to the close location that is 1.5 kms
south of La Cima (again cited in Howell). Many CHIPPING SPARROWS,
STRICKLAND'S WOODPECKER and tons of warbler's in the woods.
The next morning found us heading to Coajumulco (site 8.5 in Howell).
The directions were perfect , Seen here were large numbers of
warbler's, and ABEILLE'S ORIOLES (Bullock's).
We then headed to Chilpancingo. From here we followed Howell's
directions to the Filo de Caballo road. It took us about 20 minutes to
locate the road, as it is not directly out of the town of Milpillas,
but instead is a 5 kilometer drive farther north. Keep going until you
come to some curves in the road (at kilometer marker 190, I believe)
and then turn left. There is a road sign at the junction. Note that
there is extensive logging occuring and when we reached the road at 5:30
it was too late, as many trucks were already winding their way down the
road. We did hear a BALSAS SCREECH-OWL. It didn't respond to a tape,
but did respond to my pygmy owl impression. We slowly worked our way up
this incredibly beautiful road. The bottom portion did not yield large
numbers of birds. Still nice species were seen all along this well paved
route. Only the last part after you leave Filo is unpaved and that was
definitely the best. We birded this section at the end of our first day
and the beginning of the second. There was an amazing cacophony of
sounds. One of the best places we've seen in Mexico. Seen there were
MEXICAN HERMIT, DUSKY , WHITE-EARED, GREEN-FRONTED, AMETHYST-THROATED,
GARNET-THROATED, BUMBLEBEE HUMMINGBIRDS, WHITE-THROATED JAY,
BROWN-BACKED SOLITAIRE, BLACK THRUSH, GREY SILKY, CHESTNUT-SIDED
SHRIKE-VIREO. I would try to spend two days in this section. The first
day I would head up to the top and bird the morning up there and then
the second day birding the bottom in the morning with a possible second
trip to the top for late afternoon birds.
>From here we took the cuota toward Acapulco and branched off to the road
to Zihuatenejo for a nights stay in Atoyac. At 5 the next morning we
were on our way up to Paraiso, which was a fairly quick drive. The next
12 klicks took us 2 hours and that's without birding. Rough boulder
strewn road which probably shouldn't be done in a Tsuru (bottom of the
line Nissen). Luckily we got out without destroying the vehicle. There
are 3 really rough spots that can be handled with skillful driving. The
last one we didn't try going through, though one could make it. This
spot involves going through a creek bed that is pock marked with nice
sized rocks. We walked through the village of Nueva Delhi and headed
into the rain forest. The following were seen in those areas: WEST
MEXICAN CHACHALACA, SHORT-CRESTED COQUETTE , SPARKLING-TAILED WOODSTART,
RUDDY FOLIAGE-GLEANER, UNICOLORED JAY, RUFOUS-CAPPED and GOLDEN BROWED
WARBLERS, RUFOUS-CAPPED BRUSHFINCH and CINNAMON-BELLIED FLOWERPIERCER.
As we got ready to leave the village, we were approached by a young man
who wanted a ride down to Paraiso. Omar,who was shy at first, started
pointing out birds that he was seeing. These included a pair of BAT
FALCONS, a BLACK HAWK-EAGLE, a COLLARED TROGAN, A MOUNTAIN TROGAN, a
singing BROWN-BACKED SOLITAIRE, and WHITE-FACED GROUND-DOVES. Seemed he
had walked this road quite a bit and knew the calls and spots to see the
birds. Quite fortunate for us, and he was ecstatic to be home with his
family for New Year's Eve. After dropping him off we proceeded down the
road looking for White-tailed Hummingbirds, but it was getting late and
we ended up missing them.
That same evening found us back in Zihuat after a long drive along hwy
200. A long New Year's Eve celebration supposedly ensued. I say
supposedly, because I was asleep by 12:10. We flew back to Seattle on
the first.

The following is the list of birds seen with locations .
B= Barra de Potosi/Zihuat/H 200 H 37=Highway 37
A=Angangueo LC=La Cima
LM=Lerma Marshes C=Coajomulco
M=Millpillas road P=Paraiso road
U=Ubiquitous (seen numerous places)
Least Grebe B
Pied-billed Grebe B
Brown Booby B
Am. White Pelican H 37
Brown Pelican B
Neotropical Cormorant B
Anhinga B
Magnificant Frigatebird B
Am. Bittern LM
Least Bittern LM
G. B. Heron U
Great Egret U
Snowy Egret U
Cattle Egret H 37
Green Heron CM
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron B
White-faced Ibis B
Wood Stork H 37
Green-winged Teal H 37
Mexican Duck LM
N. Pintail LM
Blue-winged Teal LM
Cinnanmon Teal LM
N. Shoveler LM
Gadwall LM
Am. Wigeon LM
Lesser Scaup B
Ruddy Duck LM
Black Vulture U
Turkey Vulture U
Osprey H 37
Double-toothed Kite P
N. Harrier H 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk CM
Common Black Hawk M
Harris Hawk H 37
White-tailed Hawk H 37
Zone-tailed Hawk * P
Red-tailed Hawk H 37
Black Hawk-Eagle P
Crested Caracara B
Barred Forest-Falcon P
Collared Forest-Falcon * P
Am. Kestrel U
Bat Falcon P
W. Mexican Chachalaca CM
Long-tailed Wood-Partridge * CM
Banded Quail B
Ruddy Crake * B
Sora LM
Purple Gallinule LM
Common Moorhen LM
Am. Coot U
Killdeer LM
Black-necked Stilt B
Am. Avocet B
N. Jacana B
Greater Yellowlegs B
Lesser Yellowlegs B
Willet B
Spotted Sandpiper B
Whimbrel B
Western Sandpiper B
Least Sandpipier H 37
Common Snipe LM
Herring Gull B
Royal Tern B
Forster's Tern H 37
Black Tern B
Rock Dove U
Red-billed Pigeon B
Mourning Dove U
Inca Dove B
Common Ground-Dove B
White-faced Quail-Dove * P
Orange-fronted Parrot H 37
Squirrel Cuckoo H 37
Lesser Roadrunner * H 37
Groove-billed Ani B
Balsas Screech-Owl (H) M
Mottled Owl (H) M
Lesser Nighthawk M
Chestnut-collared Swift P
Vaux's Swift P
Mexican Hermit M
Green Violet-ear M
Short-crested Coquette * P
Golden-Crowned Emerald P
Dusky Hummingbird * M
Doubleday's Hummingbird B
White-eared Hummingbird M
Cinnamon Hummingbird M
Green-fronted Hummingbird M
Amythyst-throated Hummingbird M
Blue-Throated Hummingbird CM
Garnet-throated Hummingbird M
Plain-capped Starthroat * M
Sparkling-tailed Woodstart * P
Long-tailed Starthroat * M
Beautiful Hummingbird M
Broad-tailed Hummingbird CM
Bumblebee Hummingbird * M,P
Mountain Trogan * P
Collared Trogan * P
Ringed Kingfisher B
Emerald Toucanette P
Acorn Woodpecker M
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker U
Ladder-backed Woodpecker B
Hairy Woodpecker CM
Strickland's Woodpecker CM
Smoky-brown Woodpecker * P
Pale-billed Woodpecker P
Scaly-throated Foliage-Gleaner P
Rudd y Foliage-Gleaner * P
Olivaceous Woodcreeper CM
Strong-Billed Woodcreeper CM
White-striped Woodcreeper CM
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper M
Eye-ringed Flatbill * P
Pileated Flycatcher CM
Tufted Flycatcher P
Western Peewee CM
Buff-breasted Flycatcher CM
Black Phoebe H 37
Vermillon Flycatcher U
Say's Phoebe H 37
Ash-throated Flycatcher CM
Nutting's Flycatcher M
Brown-crested Flycatcher CM
Great Kiskadee U
Social Flycatcher CM
Tropical Kingbird U
Cassin's Kingbird LM
Gray-collared Becard CM
Rose-throated Becard CM
Masked Tityra (Banks) P
Violet-Green Swallow H 37
N. Rough-winged Swallow B
Stellar's Jay M
White-throated Magpie-Jay CM
White-throated Jay * P
Western Scrub Jay CM
Unicolored Jay P
Mexican Chickadee CM
Bridled Titmouse CM
Bushtit CM
White-breated Nuthatch CM
Brown Creeper CM
Canyon Wren CM
Banded Wren * M
Bewick's Wren CM
House Wren CM
Marsh Wren CM
Ruby-crowned Kinglet U
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher U
Eastern Bluebird M
Brown-backed Solitaire P
Hermit Thrush CM
Black Thrush * M
White-throated Thrush M
Am. Robin U
Curve-billed Thrasher CM
Am. Pipit LC
Gray Silky Flycatcher M
Loggerhead Shrike M
Bell's Vireo P
Dwarf Vireo CM
Cassin's Vireo CM
Hutton's Vireo P
Golden Vireo U
Warbling Vireo CM
Yellow-green Vireo CM
Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo * M
Tennesee Warbler M
Colima Warbler Hwy 37
Nashville Warbler CM
Virginia Warbler CM
Yellow Warbler B
Yellow-rumped (Audubons) Warbler CM
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) CM
Black-throated Gray Warbler CM
Townsend's Warbler U
Hermit Warbler U
Black-throated Green Warbler CM
Yellow-throated Warbler P
Grace's Warbler CM
Black and White Warbler CM
MacGillivray's Warbler CM
Common Yellowthroat LM
Black-polled Yellowthroat * LM
Wilson's Warbler U
Red Warbler U
Painted Whitestart P
Slate-throated Whitestart P
Fan-tailed Warbler M
Golden-crowned Warbler CM
Rufous-capped Warbler P
Golden-browed Warbler P
Red-Legged Honeycreeper P
Godman's Euphonia B
Blue-hooded Euphonia * M
Common Bush-Tanager P
Greyish Saltator M
Black-headed Grosbeak A
Varied Bunting CM
Orange-breasted Bunting B
Green-striped Brushfinch C
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch * P
Rufous-capped Brushfinch P
Olive Sparrow P
Canyon Towhee CM
Cinnamon Bellied Flower-piercer P
Black-chested Sparrow LM
Stripe-headed Sparrow CM
Rufous -crowned Sparrow P
Striped Sparrow LM
Chipping Sparrow LC
Sierra Madre Sparrow * LC
Song Sparrow CM
Mexican Yellow-eyed Junco CM
Red-winged Blackbird LM
Eastern Meadowlark CM
Brewer's Blackbird CM
Great-tailed Grackle U
Bronzed Cowbird U
Brown-headed Cowbird CM
Orchard Oriole M
Hooded Oriole B
Black-vented Oriole M
Dickey's Oriole P
Bullock's Oriole M
Scott's Oriole P
Yellow-winged Cacique CM
House Finch CM
Pine Siskin LC
Lesser Goldfinch CM
House Sparrow U

237 species seen, 2 others heard.

Barry Levine
Seattle, Wa. US
Barry_levine/53 at bsd405.com