February 23-March 4, 2025 with Micah Riegner & Jorge Montejo-Diaz
This year’s private tour with the Denis Kania group set a high bar in Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. In just over a week we saw over 320 species including most of the important specialties like Nava’s Wren at Reserva el Ocote (after two attempts), Belted Flycatcher, Blue-throated Motmot, Pink-headed Warbler, Singing Quail (actually seen!) and Bearded Screech-owl near San Cristobal, then Slender Sheartail, Red-breasted Chat at Sumidero Canyon, Rose-bellied Buntings, Great Swallow-tailed Swifts, Cinnamon-tailed Sparrows and Black Hawk-eagle near Arriaga, Agami Herons, White-necked Puffbird and Yellow-naped Parrots at Centro Ecoturistico Costa Verde, White-faced and White-eared Ground-Sparrows, Tody Motmots and Long-tailed Manakins at El Paval, and, last but not least, Azure-rumped Tanagers, Sparkling-tailed, Blue-tailed and Emerald-chinned Hummingbirds at the glorious Volcan Tacana. With everyone on the afternoon flight out of Tapachula, we ended up with an extra morning to bird around Tapachula, so we headed to the coast and saw Mangrove Cuckoo, Gray-headed Kite and Stripe-headed Sparrows, all of which were new for this itinerary.
Now, for a more detailed look at our trip. Day one, we took off early from Tuxtla Gutierrez to Reserva El Ocote, the most biodiverse reserve in Mexico with a bird list exceeding 500 species; however, we did not get a sense of that diversity because it was super foggy and socked in all morning and we could barely make out a Wilson’s Warbler 10 feet away! Darn. We heard the explosive song of Nava’s Wren, but nobody got a satisfying view, so we decided to save it for another day. After lunch back in Tuxtla, we headed up to the pine/oak zone at San Cristobal. That afternoon we birded some shrubby hills nearby, where it was also quite foggy, but with a bit of patience we were able to pull a Belted Flycatcher into view. What a great little bird!
The next day we visited Reserva Montetik, a community reserve outside of San Cristobal. Early on, we watched a mixed flock with Yellow-backed Orioles, Spot-crowned Woodcreepers and Brown Creepers in the tall pines, then on our way up the road we found a close Blue-throated Motmot that sat out in the open for ages. Continuing up in elevation into the more humid bromeliad-filled forest, we encountered Guatemalan Flicker, now a full species, a couple Pink-headed Warblers, Unicolored Jays and, to our astonishment, a flock of Singing Quail that flew across the road right in front of us. None of us were expecting to see that! We reached the top of the mountain and saw Amethyst-throated Mountain-Gem but, unfortunately, the Garnet-throated Hummingbird wasn’t at its usual territory. We had lunch at the main plaza in San Cristobal, then toured around town a bit, enjoying the cobblestone roadways, cathedrals, and tienditas. We returned to Montetik in the late afternoon and birded near the entrance. A Northern (Guatemalan) Pygmy-Owl shot into view in response to my whistling, which attracted a mob of Hermit, Townsend’s, Red-faced and Olive Warblers. After a picnic pizza dinner, we tried our luck at Bearded Screech-owl, a resident of high elevation pine forests in Chiapas and neighboring Guatemala. We walked well up the road and turned around, thinking that we had missed the bird but, right at the last minute, one called back, and with the help of my heat scope, we were able to find it.
The following day we had many activities to cram in. We started out birding the entrance road to Sumidero Canyon, finding a Red-breasted Chat that sat motionless in the scope because a Sharp-shinned Hawk had flown over. Farther up the canyon road we ran into Fan-tailed Warbler, Northern Bentbill, Blue-and-white Mockingbird and a female Slender Sheartail attending some purple Salvia flowers. Because of our miserable first morning at El Ocote, we decided to give another shot at seeing Nava’s Wren, so we drove back to El Ocote after lunch. When we arrived, it was blazing hot with very little bird activity, but at least there was no fog and we could actually see color! We played the recording and waited, and waited, and just as Jorge, the driver, was revving the engine to leave, Señor Nava’s decided to sing back! We jumped out and managed to scope it through a tiny window in the vegetation and the thing sat long enough for everyone to see it. Maravilloso! Continuing down towards Arriaga, we stopped at an overlook where we saw a male Rose-bellied Bunting, Masked Tityras and Brown-crested Flycatchers. Just as we were loading up to leave, Jorge spotted us a Black Hawk-eagle and some high-flying Great Swallow-tailed Swifts.
With another morning of birding above Arriaga, we enjoyed some close West Mexican Chachalacas (that’s the only place to see them in Chiapas), both Rose-bellied and Orange-breasted Buntings, Citreoline Trogons, a male Barred Antshrike, then, after seeing all the targets and with time to spare, we drove over to Paredon to scan the coastline where we saw Sandwich and Royal Terns flying over the Pacific plus Mangrove Swallows on the wires. We continued toward Mapastepec and spent the afternoon birding along the road to El Castaño where we had our first encounters with Giant Wrens, White-bellied Chachalacas, Turquoise-browed Motmots, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, a roosting Northern Potoo, Double-striped Thick-knees, and the northernmost Southern Lapwings.
Returning to El Castaño the next day, we birded along the entrance road seeing Yellow-naped Parrot that was lifer number 4,000 for Diann, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Spot-breasted Orioles, the newly split Rufous-backed Wrens, a Willow Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo and Cinnamon Hummingbirds. Reaching El Castaño we assembled into five canoes and the boatmen paddled us through the narrow mangrove channels, where we saw Mangrove Vireo, Agami Herons, a White-necked Puffbird, several Boat-billed Herons getting ready to breed and all the Mexican kingfishers. A few lucky folks even saw a Sungrebe. That evening, we went out to a side road near Mapastepec and saw Pacific Screech-owl just as the sun was setting.
El Paval, at the foothills of Reserva el Triunfo, is one of my favorite places to bird in Chiapas. It’s such a birdy place! This year when we arrived, we were greeted by a pair of White-faced Ground-Sparrows that showed nicely. Then, farther up the trail, we saw White-eared Ground Sparrows, Long-tailed Manakins, and both Lesson’s and Tody Motmots, making that five species of motmots for the tour. Soaring above us were Chestnut-collared Swifts and a beautiful adult King Vulture.
For the final days of the tour, we ventured up to Union Juarez, on the Mexican side of Volcan Tacana. Our first morning there, we found Azure-rumped Tanagers, Emerald-chinned and Blue-tailed Hummingbirds, Green-throated Mountain-Gems, Hooded Grosbeaks and a cooperative Blue-and-white Mockingbird that sat out on the top of a tree. Continuing up the road, we found a female Sparkling-tailed Hummingbird at a white flowering tree, then, that afternoon we saw two males perched.
For our second morning on Tacana, we birded around the little town of Chiquihuites with Toledo, our local guide, and saw Blue-crowned Chlorophonias, a handsome White-naped Brushfinch, both Scaly-throated and Ruddy Foliage-gleaners, Emerald Toucanets and Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, something we don’t often get on this tour. Then, Toledo took us to a spot for Rufous Sabrewing, and after a bit of waiting, amazingly, the bird showed up! Farther down the road we found some Black-headed Siskins, a pair of White-winged Tanagers and another Rufous Sabrewing at some red tubular flowers. Reaching Tapachula in the afternoon, we birded our hotel grounds where Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts circled the parking lot. Given our afternoon flight the next day, we decided to squeeze in one more morning of birding. We found a nice stretch of mangrove habitat along the road to the coast and found Mangrove Cuckoo, Gray-headed Kite, Boat-billed Herons and several Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls and Stripe-headed Sparrows, a nice way to wrap up our time in Chiapas. Jorge Montejo and I would like to thank Caroline in our office for making arrangements for us, Jorge the driver, who as always was great to work with, and all of you for joining us for this fun 10 days in Chiapas—we look forward to seeing you again soon!
Mammals
Red-bellied Squirrel (Sciurus aureogaster) The common squirrel in the lowlands.
Deppe's Squirrel (Sciurus deppei) We saw this species a couple times on Volcan Tacana.
Reptiles
Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)
Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura similis)
Striped Basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus)
Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/344691
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/elt25pTRIPLIST.pdf
Micah