September 14-23, 2025 with Micah Riegner
This whirlwind private tour was a mishmash of two itineraries we run in Mexico. We started in Mexico City, spent a couple days birding the state of Morelos based out of the beautiful town of Tepoztlan, then we drove to Oaxaca City via the state of Puebla, spent a day in the Oaxaca Central Valley, then we made our way up and over the Sierra Madre del Norte, down to tropical lowlands of Tuxtepec and back to Oaxaca City to end the trip. It was a dynamic time to be birding in Mexico—everything had greened up after a much-needed rainy season, resident species were busy breeding while meanwhile several avian migrants were beginning to pass through.
After assembling in Coyoacan, a vibrant neighborhood in the southern part of Mexico City, we took off early the next morning to bird Parque las Maravillas where we saw both Sierra Madre and Striped Sparrows, Grass Wren, Pine and Buff-breasted Flycatchers, a pair of Great Horned Owls calling in broad daylight, Hooded Yellowthroat, Red Warbler, a skulking Green-striped Brushfinch and a Russet Nightingale-Thrush. We heard some distant Long-tailed Wood-Partridges, but they didn’t cooperate well for us. We continued down in elevation into Tepozltan, checked into our hotel, then we went birding at a site called Amilsingo with my good friend, Joaquin. He’s part of the Chipes Rojos birding club of Tepoztlan. First, we walked the agricultural fields and found Banded Quail (yippee!) and singing Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, then we worked our way over to Joaquin’s ranch where his sister, Marlen, prepared a great pozole dinner made with chicken and zetas (a kind of mushroom). Around the ranch we saw Russet-crowned Motmot, Black-chested Sparrow, Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater, Rufous-backed Robin and some Least Grebes with chicks on the pond; then after dark we called in a Balsas Screech-Owl, a dynamite way to end an endemic-filled day.
The following morning we birded above Tepoztlan with my friend, Jazmine. She and her mom prepared a nice breakfast at their house, then we birded a road through some gorgeous oak forest where we saw Transvolcanic Jays, Rusty Sparrow, a Blue Mockingbird that actually sat long enough for us to scope it, Gray Silky Flycatchers, Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, a sneaky White-striped Woodcreeper, and Green-striped Brushfinch better than the day before. We returned to the van and Leif found a Transvolcanic Alligator Lizard crossing the road, a heck-of-a-cool find! We had lunch back at Jazmine’s house--delicious red mole with chicken--then we drove back to Tepoztlan for a siesta break. In the afternoon we drove down to the town of Oacalco to visit an old sugar factory hacienda where Vaux’s Swifts roost at night… 100,000 of them! My friend Judith, a local biologist, joined us to let us in and we watched clouds of swifts returning to roost in the smokestacks. What a spectacle! As it was getting dark, we poked around the hacienda, and flushed a Barn Owl that was in one of the buildings.
Before leaving for Oaxaca, we squeezed in one more morning of birding with Joaquin at Amilsingo, finding Banded Wren, Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrows, Golden-crowned Emerald, Varied Bunting, White-tailed Hawk and a pair of Great Black Hawks, which was a surprise to me. I hadn’t seen that species in Morelos before. Marlen prepared us another great lunch, tacos acorazados with chicken and chile rellenos, then we drove all the way to Oaxaca City via the state of Puebla. The drive through Tehuacan Biosphere Reserve was spectacular, with columnar cacti covering the hillsides. I wish we could have spent more time there but, alas, we had to press onward to Oaxaca.
Our first morning in Oaxaca we birded the Central Valley where we had tremendous views of Ocellated Thrasher and not-so-tremendous views of Dwarf Vireo. We also saw Sumichrast’s Wren, Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Oaxaca and Bridled Sparrows, and a fly-by Zone-tailed Hawk. We heard Slaty Vireo, but it didn’t come into view. While we were heading down to lunch, I picked up Botteri’s Sparrow vibes from the fields on the side of the road, so we stopped to listen. Sure enough, we could hear the thin “seet” calls of a Botteri’s Sparrow and we found it with a pile of worms in its bill about to feed young! Way cool! After a fine Oaxacan lunch of mole, tlayudas, and cecina enchilada, we stopped at Yagul, and Jorge, the driver, gave us a tour of the ruins. While he was giving the tour, I heard the call note of Pileated Flycatcher, so we went over to the edge of the forest to investigate, eventually calling the bird into view. Another endemic added to the list! We then birded a park at the edge of Oaxaca City where we found Black-vented Orioles, a number of migrant empids and another Slaty Vireo, but it was still a BVD for some.
The following day we crossed over the Sierra Madre del Norte and spent the morning birding near Guelatao where we finally had soul-satisfying views of Slaty Vireo, plus more Oaxaca Sparrows and a family of Happy Wrens. We had lunch at the little restaurant above the cloud forest, then we dropped down into Valle Nacional. Before reaching Valle Nacional, we pulled off on a side road and called in a pair of Tody Motmots that showed astonishingly well. We were able to scope them through a narrow window and they just sat for ages! Ivory-billed Woodcreeper and Gartered Trogon showed, too.
The tropical slopes surrounding Valle Nacional are some of the birdiest in Mexico, which is why we dedicated a full day there. In the morning, we saw Laughing Falcon, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Yellow-olive Flatbill, several Keel-billed Toucans, Olive-throated Parakeets, Great Crested Flycatcher, Crimson-collared Tanager, and Lineated, Black-cheeked and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers and droves of Montezuma and Chestnut-headed Oropendolas. After lunch back in Valle Nacional we saw Yellow-tailed Orioles (sadly they were molting their tails!), Spot-breasted Wrens, both Red-throated and Red-crowned Ant-tanagers and a Rufous-breasted Spinetail, which had eluded us in the morning. While we were preoccupied watching a feeding flock, a Tropical Whipsnake (Masticophis mentovarius) with a skink in its mouth came zooming out of nowhere and started clambering up Robin’s leg! The skink made a narrow escape, and the snake then took off for the bushes after it realized the situation it had gotten itself into. That was one lucky day for the skink. It lost its tail, but it should grow it back.
Our day out of Tuxtepec we birded a trail though some spectacular limestone forest where we tracked down Central American Pygmy-Owl, a Northern Barred Woodcreeper and, eventually, the limestone specialist Sumichrast’s Wren, which sang right in front of us. Other species there included Northern Bentbill, Slaty-Tailed Trogon and surprisingly good views of White-breasted Wood-Wren. We returned to the hotel for lunch, stopping for a pair of Aplomado Falcons along the way, then we took off for a dirt road in Veracruz where we saw a good number of egrets, both species of night-heron, Roseate Spoonbills, Snail Kites, and Bare-throated Tiger Herons displaying. The Alligator Flag (Thalia geniculata) were flowering and attracting huge numbers of Orchard Orioles and among them we could see a couple Fuertes’s Oriole males. We were getting ready to head back when we found a flock of Veracruz Wrens dust bathing on the road and a pair of Russet-naped Woodrails prancing around.
The final day of the trip we birded our way through the cloud forest above Valle Nacional finding White-naped Brushfinch, Flame-colored Tanager, Spotted Woodcreeper, Yellow-winged Tanagers, Azure-hooded Jays, and Eyering Flatbill. We got very close to some singing Spotted Wood-Quail, but they didn’t come out into view. At an overlook we saw two White Hawks with a Great Black Hawk soaring below us, then Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, and Scaly-throated Foliage-Gleaner before we headed off to lunch at the Colibri Restaurant, La Cumbre, where Rivoli’s Hummingbird and Blue-throated Mountain-gems were coming to the feeders. Jorge got us back to the hotel in Oaxaca City and we had a nice final dinner to wrap up a fun week in Mexico.
I’d like to thank Christine in our office for doing all the behind the scenes work on this tour, my friends Anuar, Joaquin, Marlen, Jazmin, and Judith for helping me in Morelos, the wonderfully hospitable folks at our hotel in Valle Nacional, Leif, for his champion spotting skills, Robin for keeping the eBird lists flowing, and Jorge, for his masterful driving. I’d like to thank you all for joining me on this Mexico adventure and I look forward to seeing you again…how about in Brazil or Bolivia next time?
Mammals
Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) Seen near Tepoztlan.
Red-bellied Squirrel (Sciurus aureogaster) The common squirrel we saw throughout the tour.
Herps
Transvolcanic Alligator Lizard (Barisia imbricata) As the name suggests, this species is found throughout the Transvolcanic Belt of Central Mexico.
Tropical Whipsnake (Masticophis mentovarius) This was the snake that was going up Robin’s leg!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/415233
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/mco25pTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Micah