My buddy Ed said he was going to a conference in Oaxaca, Mexico and was tacking on a few days to go birding. Does anyone want to come? he said. Yes, we (Ian and I) replied. YES, we screamed. We bought tickets.
Ed had already hired a guide before we even knew we were coming. I don't usually hire a guide on birding trips because I like the feeling of finding stuff myself. But I think I'm over it! We hired a guide, who also picked us up and drove us in his own car, for the full three days of birding and it was so, so worth it.
Day 1
The guide's name is Eric Antonio Martinez of BirdingToursOaxaca.com. He was awesome: knew all the spots; knew all the birds; knew all the plants and insects and other things; knew the history; knew the good lunch spots (!); and just knew everything. I can't recommend him highly enough.
With Eric leading the way, everything was easy. He picked us up the first morning at the Hotel Victoria, a charming and affordable spot a short walk from downtown, and five minutes later we're at this beautiful stream in the hill country just knocking out Oaxaca endemics. White-throated Towhee, Golden Vireo, Oaxaca Sparrow, Dwarf Vireo, check check check. It's gorgeous, and we're birding hard.
I should say here that something that added to the gorgeousness of our entire time in Oaxaca was that it was the rainy season. Lots of travelers hear those two words and start looking for vacations somewhere else, but I tell you, the rainy season is a great time to go. It rained like once! For a few minutes! Not a big deal! But the real benefit of the rainy season is that it's green. Everything was blooming and verdant and luscious. I expected a palate of nothing but yellows and browns, but green was the color of the trip. Don't be scared of rainy season.
The blooms contributed to maybe my favorite moment of the whole trip - right there during our first checklist. We walked up a rise and looked out over some massive agave flowering in front of us. The stalks were huge, probably twenty feet tall, but because we were elevated the flowers were at eye level - huge masses of yellow flowers. And buzzing around those flowers were dozens of hummingbirds. Dozens! Mostly Berrylline but with a few Rivoli's mixed in. I'd never seen so many hummingbirds at natural food before (like, I've seen large numbers at Patton's, for example), and it was spectacular. They zipped around like it was a big beehive. So cool.
Done there and feeling fine we started up into the mountains. Several mountain chains come together in the state of Oaxaca, and the city is surrounded on all sides by peaks reaching more than 9,000 feet. Cool birds to be found.
We stopped at a bend in the road in some lush forest. We were at about 7500 feet, and the birds were all different. Mountain Trogon, Crescent-chested Warbler, the endemic Gray-barred Wren, the Middle American subspecies of Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri restricta I think) with its impossibly floppy mop crest. Plus, somehow just as fun, were some familiar birds that I wasn't expecting. I didn't know American Robins lived in Southern Mexico! This is literally as far south as they go! (See photo below) Red Crossbills were here too! Hello my friends!
We continued uphill and stopped for lunch in the town of Benito Juarez. I couldn't wait to eat on this trip! I am an avowed fan of Mexican food, but had never actually eaten in the country before. Oaxaca is known as a culinary mecca, and not so much for the north Mexican taco-type food that I'm used to in the U.S. border states, but of more exotic foods like tlayudas (a kind of quesadilla, sort of), moles, distinct cheese, and mezcal. I studied Oaxacan food much more than the birds in preparation for the trip.
Eric took us to a tiny little kitchen in the town. Now, I try to be careful about the word "authentic." I don't think it means that much, really, and it's not a good way to judge whether food is good or not. The search for authenticity can be a kind of unfulfillable fetish, leaving people questing for some kind of imagined ideal rather than dealing with the reality in front of them. But I tell you, there was nothing faked or pretentious about the meal in Benito Juarez. Just a couple of women in a kitchen with a pile of masa making delicious, simple food. After a morning of seeing awesome new birds, a plate of memelas (tortillas with chorizo, beans, and cheese) and incredible cinnamon-y coffee made for one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I was in heaven, and there were more birds to find.
We continued up to a ridge about 9,000 feet. The highlight here was the Red Warbler, one of the most famous birds in southern Mexico. What a little guy! Bright red with white cheeks? Who is in charge here? How are birds like this allowed?? What a beauty. We were satisfied in all directions, and headed back down to Oaxaca.
Eric pulled us up to a nondescript, weedy field next to a small agave plantation, and we immediately started nailing cool birds. This kind of local knowledge is where it really pays off to have a guide, as there's no way we would have found this spot ourselves. Endemic Gray-breasted Woodpecker! Endemic Boucard's Wren! Cool local subspecies of Horned Lark! Good stuff.
We were done for the day, an incredible Day 1 in Oaxaca.
Day 2
We were back at it and headed up the mountains again, this time in search of another sought-after Oaxacan specialty. Corvids are a beloved group, and jays are the most colorful and playful bunch (in North America, at least). The smallest jay in the world is the Dwarf Jay, and it's found only in the mountains above Oaxaca. We headed to the famous La Cumbre park (ecotourism area? I'm not really sure) and Eric had us on a couple of Dwarf Jays within minutes. There was heavy cloud cover (so no sun to help with color), and the birds displayed an impressive ability to stay directly above our heads, but we all managed good looks, if not good photos. What a bird! We were all relieved at connecting with this species, one of the easiest to miss on the trip.
We continued on, Eric landing us crushing looks at species like Golden-browed Warbler, Collared Towhee, and many more. Satisfied in the mountains, we headed back down to a valley a little further south. We never got the name of this place -- a popular spot for local hikers -- but we named it "Valle de las Mariposas" because of the butterflies that were literally everywhere along the damp ground. Check my iNat page if you want to see more - my favorite was a Bumblebee Metalmark.
Anyway, we cleaned up here with our final Oaxaca City-area endemics. Our most wanted as the Slaty Vireo, an absolutely awesome, evil (?) looking bird. Not the easiest looks, but we all got it. Same for Blue Mockingbird, which we'd glimpsed several times but not seen well. We did get great, though distant, looks at one here, along with our long-awaited Ocellated Thrasher. Day 2 was in the books.
Day 3
We hit it so hard the first two days that Eric had a free day to play with, and decided to take us further afield. For a three day trip, the third day is often used to clean up birds you may have missed due to weather or bad luck, but we were all too good for that. Let's go find some new stuff.
For us, that meant driving an hour and a half south to a nondescript wash where we absolutely nailed some cool new birds. This was new habitat; gone were the lush mountain forests and in its place was hot desert. It was a nice change of pace. This place that Eric took us was perfect. Maybe the first bird we heard out of the car, chipping in some scrub, was an Orange-breasted Bunting, just a beyond-colorful bird that we didn't at all plan for or expect because we only really prepared (such that it was) for Oaxaca City. What a bird!
Deeper into the wash we found beautiful and cooperative White-lored Gnatcatcher (always a favorite group), a Plain-capped Startthroat, Dusky Hummingbirds, a White-throated Magpie-Jay (!), a Varied Bunting, and more. We watched a Russet-crowned Motmot dive into a hole in the banking and waited for it to come out (but it didn't). We heard some tooting overhead and were treated to a point-blank Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Couldn't get better views if we paid it.
