10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2024

Last week, I failed to produce a post, because I was getting ready to spend a week in Mexico’s tropical state of Tabasco. We were happy to experience three birds of prey on this jaunt. Two classic birds of Mexico’s east coast are also present. … And sometimes that’s a lot.

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Barn Owls Mexico Parrots ALA 222

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These striking and inquisitive jays were perhaps the bird of the trip for me, and we took our time to soak in the experience of encountering these wonderful birds. Mexico is great for those who love biogeography! A little further along the road, we stopped at a stake-out for Sinaloa Martin.

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Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2020

I have commented before in my posts that most of our Warblers here in central Mexico never actually warble. But my experience suggests there is a fair amount of geographical overlap between the two ranges in my area. southwest, but it is a permanent resident in western Mexico and parts of Central America.

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Mexico Honduras South America America 348

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Now, it is much easier for me to achieve first-time sightings of species in Europe than it is in Mexico, at this point of the game. You can get a sense of the breadth of my European birding experience by how many of my lifers have the word “Common” in their names. Next week, we will be back to Mexico.

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Spain Mexico Europe North America 188

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2024

I had waited so long to meet you: In May and June, I made a pair of work trips to Mexico’s tropical state of Tabasco. This was Mexico’s absolutely hottest time of the year, but a full 30 lifers made it worth it. It would take video to really show the experience, so you’ll have to take my word for it.)

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Morocco Birds Turkey Mexico 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

As I mentioned last week, the world seems to have turned upside down lately, at least here in central Mexico. One of my companions said that in his region of Mexico, this type of rain is called a “ mojapendejos ” rain.

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Birds Mexico Shelters Species 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

That could be because Mexico’s lowland Tierra Caliente (Hot Country) has a Very Bad Reputation. State department travel warnings, Mexico as a whole has a bad reputation. I have lived in Mexico for almost 37 years, and in Michoacán for 25 years, and yet I have never witnessed a violent crime. Is it safe to bird in Mexico?

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Mexico Colombia Africa Experience 166

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Perhaps those people have never had to personally experience increasingly erratic climate patterns. And now, in my long-term home of Michoacán, Mexico, we have experienced a one-year drought unlike anything I have seen in my 30 years here. I understand there are still people out there who deny human-induced climate change.

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Ducks Mexico California Fish 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2020

So I am writing these words on Tuesday night in my home in Mexico, rather than waking up in Paris prior to flying to Istanbul. My one sighting of the little-known Sinaloa Martin outside of summer had occurred on a 29th of February, and I hoped to repeat that experience. Three years of my experience shows that they most certainly do. (On

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Species Mexico Jordan Turkey 164

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2020

These birds also invite one to sites that are unique within the United States – the climate, vegetation, and landscapes all add context and heighten the experience of seeing one’s first Elegant Trogon or Painted Bunting. New Mexico Nature & Culture. So let’s look at this sampler, shall we? Painted Bunting by Carlos Sanchez.

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America Arizona North America Texas 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

So have birders extraordinaire Amy, who is Canadian, and Jorge, who is from Mexico’s southeastern state of Yucatán, and goes by the nickname “Yuca” On any given year, you can find them at the very top of eBird’s “Top 100” birders for Mexico. So are several other members of the forum/chat.

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Birds Mexico California Spain 173

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Cedar Waxwings have come back to central Mexico. But in 2020 I personally saw thousands of Waxwings in a dozen or so sites, and every one of my birder friends across the country had a similar experience. and Canada, Waxwings are clearly an irruptive species for Mexico. This year, the sightings are less, so far. (I

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Mexico 2020 2012 Parrots 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

(Someday I will get up the nerve to write about the ten, yes, TEN Empidonax species I believe I have seen in my little corner of Mexico. Birders throughout the Americas can experience the chalenges of Gull, Tern, New World Warbler, and Tyrant Flycatcher identification. As is this one. Little Brown Job!

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Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 144

Critter News

AUGUST 19, 2010

Bill Richardson is asking to tour a former medical research lab in southern New Mexico that houses more than 200 chimpanzees. The animals can be used again for medical experiments if transferred to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas. From the AP.

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New Mexico Mexico San Antonio Medical Research 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2021

They were a fairly common species from my childhood in California, but I had not expected them to turn up in central Mexico. I did manage photos of other flagship species of the Mexico’s highest mountains. Plus, they look a bit different here, with an oddly-shaped crest and bright white eyebrows.

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Mexico California Species Groups 167

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

And my decision to take this as a learning experience led to some interesting conclusions — and even some pretty cool birds. The former are supposed to fly south only to and along Mexico’s coasts, while the latter should barely reach this far south strictly along the Mexican coast for the winter. But so worth it!

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Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 235

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Most of our readers are not likely to be able to ID this bird, because it only occurs in Mexico and Guatemala. But previous experience with Ejido Triquillo taught me that another species might turn up during the spring. Fortunately, I had managed a collection of very bad photos before the bird flew off. That’s a Hooded Grosbeak

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Mexico Guatemala South America United States 193

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Rather, I am speaking of what a certain group of birds must experience every day. Here in central Mexico, the masters of inverse perching are the Nuthatches, and the winter-only Black-and-White Warbler. Still, in spite of the thrill we share with each lifer, that is not the rush of blood to the head to which I refer in my title.

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Mexico Horses Species Groups 142

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

I love living in central Mexico, and miss very few things about living in the U.S. Of course, I also love birding in Mexico, with its 1,000+ species, and seemingly infinite variety of habitats. Mexico, like many developing countries, has a terrible problem with habitat destruction. So how do I get my natives?

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Mexico Species Bears Experience 185

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2020

This Chat winters along the coast of Mexico and throughout Central America. You may not know that Mexico is part of North, not Central, America.) Nevertheless, I have seen it often in my area, far from the coast, in every month from October through April, and even once in August.

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Mexico United States 2019 America 252

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2020

Last week I wrote about my first experience with a new site that a friend thought looked promising when he saw it on Google Maps. This experience of finding an entirely new, but very birdy, site is nothing unusual for me. I have had much better experiences with the nature reserves located around the edges of Morelia.

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San Francisco 2020 Experience Experiments 164

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

It was eventually accepted as a separate species after genetic studies also revealed large differences (over 8%) between birds from central Panama to northern South America and birds from western Panama north to Mexico. but without further evidence from playback experiments and/or genetic studies, splitting it now might be jumping the boat.

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Costa Rica Owls Panama Argentina 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

It’s not clear how many of the plates have been touched up, redrawn or are new, and I hope we’ll learn more about the process, perhaps when the third book in the series by Howell and Dyer, a new guide to the birds of Mexico, is published.* Why are these issues? Author Steve N. Birds of Costa Rica, artwork by Dale Dyer, p.

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Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 227

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

Here in the highlands of central Mexico, we can see (rather easily, as I mentioned above) two trogons: the Mountain Trogon , and the Elegant Trogon. The Elegant Trogon prefers drier habitats, with a predominance of oaks rather than conifers, and in my experience is much harder to find. Wikipedia has been used.). Which you should.

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Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2021

It was a very disorienting experience. I used eBird’s species map option to confirm that in other recent years, only a few Cedar Waxwing sightings were reported in Mexico from January to May. But this year, the map of Mexico is a sea of purple (the color they use to indicate a sighting).

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Turtles Mexico Branding Sparrows 244

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2021

This elegant species is closely related to the Evening Grosbeaks of the far north, but can only be seen in 5 discontinuous regions of Mexico and Guatemala. In my experience, they are never an easy find; and I had never before seen so many of them, or so close to urban Morelia. the female. true love.

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Protection Guatemala Mexico Woodpeckers 268

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Oddly enough, it is the Western Bluebird that bears the taxonomic name of Sialia mexicana ; but in my experience, the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialia ) is much more common in most of Mexico. Eastern Bluebirds seemed to be everywhere. Stripe-headed Sparrows are not colorful, but I chose to show this photo anyway.

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South America Sparrows Mexico Bears 206

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2024

Work brings me regularly to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, northern Mexico. Amazingly, everyone showed up at dawn except for one person, who’d had a near-death experience with me on Colombia’s Sumapaz paramo, an acceptable excuse for a no-show. Monterrey is a big industrial city, with industrious people.

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Parrots Woodpeckers Industry Fast Food 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Then we crossed the south San Diego Trough to Thirty Mile Bank, eventually reaching a place called “The Corner,” which, as I understand it, is where San Diego and Los Angeles counties meet Mexico. That is, incidentally, my universal experience on pelagics, as everyone has been very good and very experienced on all my trips.)

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San Diego Los Angeles Cooking North Carolina 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2021

It is rarely seen in the interior of the country at any distance from the waters of the Atlantic, or those of the Gulf of Mexico. My only previous experience with the Montezuma Winery – as documented here – was a bottle of their Red Wing, a red wine made from the Catawba grape, an often-unruly American variety.

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New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2019

” So, it is established: this is a film about migrant birds and the people who work to protect them in south Texas and northern Mexico. The experiences of children observing birds, touched on in the U.S. Birders is directed by Otilia Portillo Padua of Mexico, and was funded by a grant from the Sundance Institute.

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Advocacy Mexico United States Texas 268

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Like the best Big Year books, Adventures of a Louisiana Birder has a deeply personal layer to the bird quest, in this case experiences of danger and recovery, frailty and loss, mourning and hope. I think this is unique in the Big Year Narrative genre and I appreciate it.

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Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2018

In a little less than two weeks my family and I will be enjoying a long weekend on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Having never birded in Mexico at all I was initially concerned about identifying the myriad species that can be seen. Hopefully, I’ll do better than 85% correct when I’m in Mexico.

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Mexico Belize Honduras Science 108

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

My area of central Mexico has a true monsoon climate. I’m curious whether our California readers have a similar experience. That means that we have little or no rain through the winter months, and almost daily rain during the warm months of June through September, with May and October being transitional months.

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Nashville 2015 Mexico Turkey 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2011

If Mexico City itself was not high enough, the mountains to the south rise above 12,300 feet and I was there looking for a Sierra Madre Sparrow to confirm a sighting of this rare and local sparrow from 15 years ago. As I write, Popacatapetl, the volcano 50 miles south-east of Mexico city, is grumbling outside the window.

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Costa Rica Mexico Taiwan Honduras 215

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2013

Isla Isabel, a picturesque volcanic island situated 15 miles off Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit coast, is just such a place. Lastly, due to its previous inaccessibility to humans and the absence of natural predators, the wildlife is bizarrely unafraid of humans, allowing for a truly unforgettable experience.

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Whales Whaling Sharks Marine Life 265

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2016

My first experience with this bird was near the fishing village of San Evaristo, on the Sea of Cortez, 50 miles north of La Paz, Mexico. As of a few months ago, there was a sighting of a meransi across the US/Mexico border and up into the San Diego area. This is over 100 miles from its northern most previous sighting.

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San Diego Seattle Mexico Oregon 106