Since, I came down to Oaxaca there have been not a few questions by email about finding certain birds or new places to visit. Here is one that my birding friends Eric Antonio Martinez and Jilly Rodriguez Mendes showed me during a four day voyage south through the Sierra de Miahuatlan to Bahias de Huatulco and back. Steve Howell, in his 1999: A guide to Bird-Finding in Mexico, mentions on page 234 a side road to the little coffee-growing town of Pluma Hidalgo. There has now been an exciting new highway built connecting this town to Santa Maria Huatulco at much lower elevation. It does not appear on any map that I know of. The road runs for about 30 miles along the front of the Sierra, undulating between 3000' to 5000'. The slopes are covered in rich tropical evergreen forest, ferns, wildflowers and waterfalls reminiscent of our own Cascades. The road is easy to bird, has virtually no traffic, but pull-offs are hard to find. In no particular order, some of the birds I personally saw were:



Squirrel Cuckoo Collared Trogon Green Jay White-throated Magpie-Jay Golden Vireo Emerald Toucanette Blue Mockingbird Bat Falcon Red-legged Honeycreeper

Blue-capped, Bumblebee and White-eared Hummingbirds Rufous-capped, Golden-browed and Fan-tailed Warblers

Some birds heard only were: Ruddy Foliage-Gleaner, Audubon's Warbler and Grey-breasted Woodwren. Pretty sure that White-throated Jay is nearby but it is a skulker !!

In the coastal lowlands behind the Huatulco area, we saw Vaux's, Black, Chestnut-collared and White-collared Swifts in good numbers, Golden-crowned Emerald and Doubleday's Hummingbirds and the resident flock of Gray-breasted Martins - previously a mystery bird for me. Ferruginous Pygmy-owls are everywhere!!

Just on the northern edge of the Bahias is a sand road running to the Bahia de St. Augustine and its superb beach, totally empty at this time of the year. There are two wetlands on the way in - containing ducks, shorebirds, herons, etc.

The drive down to Huatulco from Cuidad Oaxaca is an obstacle course. It might be better to fly to Huatulco from Mexico City. Or else base your trip on staying along the coast. The Isthmus part of Oaxaca has some great endemics. Good birding, Dave

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David Hutchinson, Owner
Flora & Fauna: Nature Books
Discovery Gardens: Native Plants
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