Hello Hal,
I know you picked one of the nicest concerned an experienced Fieldguide in
the northwest.As i was atending Wenas this year his name came up,and this
birders raved about Michael.There too went to Mexico with him.Since he keeps
the attendence quite low,you more he can show and specialize on each
birder.I hope you will fill us in on some of this birds you all found.

Ruth Sulivan
Tacoma
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hal Opperman" <hal at catharus.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 2:24 PM
Subject: Recent trip to southern Mexico


Tweets:

I returned on Wednesday from three weeks of birding in Chiapas and Oaxaca,
on two back-to-back tours led by Michael Carmody of Spokane. The number of
participants was small (six of us on the first tour including fellow Tweet
Steve Gerstle, just three on the second) and the results were outstanding.
The core of the first tour was an intense (five-day) version of the classic
El Triunfo transect described by Jerry Broadus earlier this year, preceded
and followed by birding at El Sumidero National Park near Tuxtla Gutierrez
and in the Pacific lowlands around Tapachula and Mapastepec. The second
tour left from Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Crist?bal de las Casas, then across
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to finish in Oaxaca City, with many digressions.

We found a total of 441 species of which 35 are endemic to Mexico, and
missed almost none of the target species. These were my fourth and fifth
Mexican trips in the last three years. One cannot help being enthusiastic
about birding in Mexico, a frontier that more and more of us northerly
birders are discovering.

I've prepared a trip summary with highlights of the birds seen. If you'd
like a copy as an e-mail attachment, let me know.

Good birding!

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
hal at catharus.net