Endemics and Tacos

 

After finishing up my epic trip to Costa Rica, I returned to the US for some much-needed rest (and catching up on work). I wasn't quite done with the Neotropics yet, though: on March 21 I left DC once again, this time to Mexico City. My sister and I had gifted my mom tickets to Mexico for Christmas, and I was joining them for a weekend. They would be there all week, but after being in Costa Rica for so long (and with other travel plans coming up later), a long weekend was all I could spare. 

This wasn't a birding trip of course, and the main idea was to spend some time exploring Mexico City, visiting museums and eating food. Regardless, I obviously wasn't going to go to a new place and not look for new birds while I was there. This was to be my first time birding in Mexico outside of Sonora, so I had lots of targets, particularly the many species endemic to Mexico's central plateau. I decided to fly in a day earlier so that I could have two full mornings of birding followed by sightseeing and food trips. After going through the target birds it became clear that it was too much ground to cover, and I didn't really have the time or bandwidth necessary to figure out the logistics and study up on the birds on my own. Instead I ended up getting in touch with Miguel Aguilar (also known as Birdnomad), who was available during that time to bird with me. That proved to be an excellent decision, as Miguel is an amazing guide and lots of fun to bird with, and I was able to see far more birds than I would have had I tried to go it on my own.

I arrived in Mexico City the night of March 21, and had time for little else but taking an Uber to my AirBnb for the night, having a late dinner of halfway-decent tacos, and going to sleep. Miguel picked me up before dawn the next morning, and we went to pick up Ben, a birder from Chicago who had already booked a morning with Miguel and was gracious enough to let me tag along. 

From our AirBnbs downtown we drove southwards, climbing from the bottom of the Valley of Mexico to the highlands above. Mexico City is located in a plateau in the center of the country, part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The valley is an arid highland desert (made much drier by the ecologically disastrous draining of Lake Texcoco, which once filled it almost entirely), but the highlands are cooler and wetter, covered in the montane pine-oak forests of the volcanic belt. We had a spectacular view of the city as the sun rose and before the smog set in, with the smoking peak of Popocatépetl in the distance. 

Our destination was the Oyamelpull area, where the local community is engaged in a mixed-use forestry project, monitoring the health of the pine-oak forest and organizing brigades to control the constant brush fires while also planting crops and pasturing cattle in some areas. Near the site we stopped to pick up Ulises, a local birder and part of the community council. The site itself was a 20-minute drive from the village of Tetzumpa on bumpy, dusty dirt roads through picturesque pine forest. It was wonderfully cool when we got out of the car, thought it was a bright and sunny day that got progressively hotter and less comfortable as it went on.

The pine-oak forest in Oyamelpull

The morning started out quiet, with only a few birds seen or heard near the car. In a hedgerow of flowering groundsel and fuschia we saw a White-eared Hummingbird and a skulking Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer, while there was a Blue-throated Mountaingem perched high in a tree above us. Incongruously, the fields were absolutely filled with American Robins, which are actually quite common at high elevations in central Mexico. As we walked through the pine forest there were lots of flycatchers flitting around in terrible light, including Tufted Flycatchers, Buff-breasted Flycatchers, and Pine Flycatchers, the latter two of which were lifers for me. After quite a bit of effort we managed to get decent looks at a Strickland's Woodpecker, a little woodpecker endemic to the eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and one of the primary targets for birders visiting Mexico City. 

White-eared Hummingbird

Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer

Pine Flycatcher

Northern Tufted Flycatcher

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

Strickland's Woodpecker

Our path through the woods opened up into a small field, and as we were scanning the treetops Ulises pointed out a group of Long-tailed Wood Partridges foraging on the opposite side! Another Central Mexico endemic, the wood partridges are usually extremely shy and more often heard than seen, as with most other forest chickens. No-one apparently told these birds, however, as they were foraging out in the open and let us get fairly close before flushing off into the woods. It was a much better view than I had ever expected to get, and quite the way to start out my time in Mexico. 

Long-tailed Wood Partridge!

The wood partridge field

Elsewhere along the perimeter of the field we had close looks at some migrant birds like Lincoln's Sparrows and a confiding American Dusky Flycatcher, along with some much more interesting birds like a skulking Russet Nightingale-Thrush, a pair of Rufous-capped Brushfinches, and several gorgeous Red Warblers, another sought-after Mexican endemic bird. Back near the car we had a singing Slate-throated Whitestart of the northern red-bellied subspecies, and after lots of searching had great looks at a beautiful Golden-browed Warbler.

Lincoln's Sparrow

American Dusky Flycatcher- the most cooperative photo subject of the whole trip, and of course the worst-looking

Russet Nightingale-Thrush

Rufous-capped Brushfinch

Red Warbler

Slate-throated Whitestart- the birds in Mexico have red bellies while the ones in Costa Rica and further south have yellow bellies

Golden-browed  Warbler

Anacahuan Bunchgrass Lizard

We got back in the car and headed to a different patch of forest, stopping along the way for a little group of endemic Striped Sparrows hanging out on the rocks. We got out at another patch of forest, this one more open and scrubby than where we started. A rustling in the undergrowth alerted us to the presence of a Green-striped Brushfinch, another local endemic, which mostly remained hidden but briefly gave us good views. As we started walking we hit a little mixed flock with several migratory MacGillivray's Warblers and Cassin's Vireos, as well as a single gorgeous Blue Mockingbird. We walked downhill along the dusty road and eventually heard the call of an endemic Hooded Yellowthroat but it never came into view. There were lots of Grey Silky Flycatchers (my last species in that family!) along the road, and we heard the strange whining call of a Greater Roadrunner but it also remained hidden. Eventually we got acceptable views of the yellowthroats, but it took a great deal of effort and they never came into the open or stopped long enough for pictures. 

Striped Sparrow

Green-striped Brushfinch

MacGillivray's Warbler

Cassin's Vireo

Blue Mockingbird

Grey Silky Flycatcher

Sadly the best view I ever got of a Hooded Yellowthroat

Graphic Spiny Lizard

Crevice Swift

Mesoamerican Bumble Bee on a Wild Sage (Salvia polystachia)

Santa Catalina Paintbrush (Castilleja tenuiflora)

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)

Mexican Silverspot

That was all we had time for, as it was getting extremely hot and Ben had to be back down in town for a wedding. We made our way back to central Mexico City, which took far longer than expected thanks to the Friday afternoon traffic- it wasn't quite a Manila-level nightmare, but it was a reminder that Mexico City is the most populous city in North America, with all the issues that come along with that. I finally returned to my AirBnb for a much-needed nap, and my mom and sister got in late that night. 

The next morning the rest of the family wanted to sleep in after a long flight from the US, so I went out again with Miguel for some birding elsewhere. Since we had the whole morning, Miguel suggested we leave Mexico City entirely and bird in some other habitats in the state of Morelos to the south. That was obviously fine with me, and so once again we headed out long before sunrise, climbing the rim of the Valley of Mexico and enjoying a distant view of Popocatépetl in the pre-dawn light.

I was remiss in taking landscape pictures during this trip, so sadly this is the best I've got

The road to Morelos dropped down from the pine-oak forests of the plateau through rugged hills of volcanic rock to an area of scrubby woodland, much hotter and drier than where we'd been before. We drove through some agricultural fields until we got to some thornscrub along a dry river bed. The agricultural fields were filled with hundreds of sparrows, mostly Lark Sparrows and Clay-colored Sparrows  about to depart northwards to their summer breeding grounds in the US and Canada. I spotted a Russet-crowned Motmot perched incongruously up on a power line, and we heard West Mexican Chachalacas and Golden-cheeked Woodpeckers in the distance, although annoyingly enough we never actually saw any. 

Clay-colored Sparrow

Russet-crowned Motmot

The landscape around Morelos

We got out of the car and spent some time walking around in the thornscrub looking for our target birds. There were lots of noisy Banded Wrens calling from inside the shrubbery, as well as a few Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrows. Miguel spotted one of my main targets, a good-looking endemic Black-chested Sparrow singing from a nearby bush, and to our surprise we even found a vagrant Green-tailed Towhee hopping along the ground- only the third record for Morelos! This has apparently been a weird year for Green-tailed Towhees as they've been almost absent from their usual wintering grounds in Arizona but showing up all over in Mexico.

Banded Wren

Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow

Black-chested Sparrow

Green-tailed Towhee

We spent a productive hour or so walking around the scrub before it got too hot. Along with even more Banded Wrens and Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrows, we had yet another confiding American Dusky Flycatcher, a few endemic Dusky Hummingbirds and a surprise Golden-crowned Emerald, another endemic hummingbird that hadn't even been on my radar as a possible target. Another surprise was a little group of Golden Vireos, while a Greenish Elaenia was a nice Mexico lifer. As we were driving out I spotted a little flock of Cinnamon-rumped Seedeaters feeding in a field, another lifer for me and one I'd missed in Sonora. 

Banded Wren

I admit that it was a little annoying to have worked so hard for birds like Blue Mockingbird and Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow in Sonora only to have them be roadside birds further south...

American Dusky Flycatcher

Dusky Hummingbird

Golden-crowned Emerald

Golden Vireo

Greenish Elaenia

Cinnamon-bellied Seedeater

Cassius Blue

One-pupil Satyr

Our next stop was a bit further back uphill, outside a sacred site near the town of Tepoztlán. Tepoztlán is a popular weekend destination for people from Mexico City, and it had the feel of a typical touristy town in Latin America with lots of cobblestone streets and old colonial buildings draped in bouganvillea. I'm not entirely sure what the sacred site was about, as we stopped only long enough to find the endemic Boucard's Wrens hanging out near the parking area. I love a big, chunky wren and Boucard's Wrens are among the biggest and chunkiest so it was fun to watch them hopping around in the bushes doing their thing. There were also lots of East Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguanas hanging around by the road, and I finally was able to get my first photos of an Ash-throated Flycatcher.

Boucard's Wren

Ash-throated Flycatcher

East Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana

Our next stop was the Parque Totlán Coajomulco, a little nature and adventure park high in the pine-oak forests above the city. We once again went through the usual succession of habitats from scrubby semi-desert to dry woodlands to pine forests as we climbed higher in elevation. We were one of the few people driving toward Mexico City, as it was the beginning of Holy Week and there was an enormous gridlock heading southward as everyone else tried to get out of town. 

At the Parque Totlán we spent some time walking along the trails through the pine forest looking for some more high-elevation birds. We had a single Flame-colored Tanager, a bird I'd only ever heard briefly in Costa Rica, and a pretty little migratory Hermit Warbler. Brown-backed Solitaires were singing throughout the forest, and I finally managed to see one for the first time since my first visit to Sonora years ago. Finally we managed to get on our main target, a mixed flock with a pair of noisy and difficult-to-photograph Grey-barred Wrens, yet another endemic wren. There was also a huge and beautiful Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo that I got good looks at and utterly failed to photograph. As we headed out we saw a couple of Crescent-chested Warblers feeding in the trees near the car. 

Flame-colored Tanager

Hermit Warbler

Brown-backed Solitaire

Grey-barred Wrens

Crescent-chested Warbler

The pine forests of Parque Totlán

Our final stop was Parque Las Maravillas, in the high grassland just south of Mexico City. The park is usually one of the best spots for seeing the birds we had been looking for the previous day, but apparently birding there was difficult that time of year because of the many brush fires and fire brigades making access difficult. It was, however, still the best place to see one of the key target birds. It was the middle of the day and very hot and dusty as we drove through the grassland and we had to wait for the dust to settle before getting out of the car. Thankfully it didn't take too long to see our main target: a Sierra Madre Sparrow hanging out in the tall grass nearby. Although they mostly look like extra-streaky Song Sparrow, they're actually an endangered species endemic to high-altitude bunchgrass in Mexico. Despite seeing precipitous declines in population thanks to loss of habitat, they can still somehow still be seen right next to the country's largest city, which is just fine with me. There was also a Buff-breasted Flycatcher feeding in some short grass, giving me better looks than I'd had before. 

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

With the key targets all seen, we headed back down into the city, which thankfully was much less trafficky than it had been the previous day. I bid goodbye to Miguel and started the culture and food part of my Mexico City trip, which I'd been looking forward to at least as much as the birding. That started with a walk through the fashionable La Condesa neighborhood where our AirBnb was located to a taquería serving possibly the best tacos al pastor I've ever had. The history of al pastor is fascinating, originating from Lebanese immigrants to Mexico who brought lamb doner with them and realized that it worked perfectly well with pork instead of lamb. Put it in a taco and add some indigenous ingredients like guajillo chile and achiote paste and you have an excellent (and tasty) example of the cultural fusion that makes Mexican cuisine arguably the best in the world. 

The real reason I came to Mexico City

After another much-needed afternoon nap we headed to the other side of town where we visited the Plaza del Carmen, site of a well-known street market, and enjoyed browsing for knick-knacks and people-watching as the sun went down. That evening we returned to La Condesa where we had a late dinner at a vegan restaurant with possibly the worst vegan burritos I've ever tasted. 

Scenes from La Condesa and Plaza del Carmen

I was up early the next morning as usual, and my mom and I decided to take a stroll through the nearby Bosque de Chapultepec, a very large urban park with some planted trees, ponds, an archeological site, and many very good museums. The park was crowded with runners doing some sort of half marathon when we arrived and the birds and wildlife were scarce in the non-native forest. Near the ponds there were some Mexican Ducks, which I had never managed to photograph before, many Great-tailed Grackles, and some Berylline Hummingbirds. Mostly though it was a good excuse for a scenic stroll in the cool morning air. 

Great-tailed Grackle

Mexican Duck- basically a more boring version of a Mallard

Red-bellied Squirrel

Mesoamerican Slider

Flowering Jacaranda tree

The pond at Bosque de Chapultepec

That afternoon we returned to Bosque del Chapultepec to visit the famous Museo Nacional de Antropología, the flagship museum dedicated to Mexico's pre-Colombian history and quite possibly the best I've ever been to. I won't bore you with pictures of the various exhibits but suffice it to say that Mexico has one of the most fascinating histories of any country in the world, and the destruction of so much of its cultural heritage, from buildings to religions to documents to entire cultures and literally a whole lake is one of the greatest cultural, environmental and human rights atrocities of the last few hundred years. 

On the way back we walked through the little botanical garden in the Bosque de Chapultepec, which had a few birds enjoying the shade of the planted trees. We saw a Hermit Warbler flitting around in a tree, a few House Finches including one that looked like it had xanthochromism (abnormal yellow pigmentation in the parts of its plumage that were supposed to be red), and a surprise Hermit Thrush, a new Mexico bird for me. Roosting by the lagoon was a nice adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron. I kept my eyes out for Black-backed Orioles, an endemic usually seen in urban parks, but there weren't any of the flowering coral trees that they usually hang out in. 

Hermit Warbler

House Finch with xanthochromism

Hermit Thrush

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Baby Graphic Spiny Lizard

Pink-spotted Swallowtail

That night my sister's friend joined us, and we went out for some very good (and extremely cheap) tacos, and very good (and extremely expensive) cocktails. The next day was my last day in Mexico City, and I had just an hour or so to bird at sunrise before I needed to pack up and join the family on a food tour. I went to another part of the Bosque de Chapultepec in search of orioles and once again came up empty-handed, though it was a beautiful area with lots of jacaranda trees and a running track around a little lake. The lake had Pied-billed Grebes and lots of Common Gallinules swimming around, and Great-tailed Grackles and a grumpy-looking Tricolored Heron in the reeds. There were lots of flowering orchid trees that had Bewick's Wrens, Audubon's Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, and Berylline Hummingbirds, while there was a little flock of American Bushtits in the shrubbery. 

Pied-billed Grebe

Common Gallinule

Tricolored Heron

Orange-crowned Warbler

Berylline Hummingbird

Scenes from the park

Later that morning we had booked a food tour in the La Merced Market, the largest of the public markets in Mexico City. Located in the downtown borough of Venustiano Carranza, the market is an absolute maze of stalls with all manner of food stuffs from meat to chili peppers to prickly pear cactus to. It was also full of little food stands and canteens selling a ridiculous variety of antojitos (snacks and small meals). Anyone unfamiliar with the area would get instantly lost but thankfully our guide Tonalli was an expert in the area, knowing exactly the route to take and which stalls had the best food. It was a morning with almost more food than we could handle- yet more top-notch tacos, quesadillas with squash blossoms and huitlacoche (corn fungus), deep-fried tamales, thick beef soup designed to kill hangovers, and so much more. Sadly I had to leave before the tour finished so that I could head to the airport, but I was still full to bursting by the time I left and very happy I could sleep off the food coma in the airplane.

Scenes from the Mercado La Merced

Stuffing myself with good food was probably the best possible way for me to end my quick trip to Mexico City, and my main takeaway from a few days there was that I need to return as soon as I can. I'm not always a city person, but I enjoyed the city far more than I expected- between the food scene, the absurd number of museums, centuries of history, and of course nice birding in the surrounding it became one of my favorite cities that I've visited. I'm hopeful that I can spend more time there on my next visit to see even more of it.