February 20-March 1, 2026 with Micah Riegner & Jorge Montejo-Diaz
We had another great run of our Chiapas tour right before we set off for El Triunfo (separate trip report coming soon). We started with our usual visit to Reserva El Ocote where we saw Black-faced Grosbeaks, Collared Trogon, Red-throated Ant-tanagers and a Crimson-hooded Tanager along the entrance road. Farther along, we saw Chestnut-headed Oropendola, an uncommon species there, Gray Hawk and a family group of chattery Black-headed Saltators. A Slate-colored Solitaire taunted us from the vines and sadly, Nava’s Wren didn’t show at all. We looked all over for it including the spot where we saw it in November, but it didn’t seem to be around. Darn. A White-browed Gnatcatcher was a nice consolation prize though. We headed back to Tuxtla for lunch, then continued up to San Cristobal. We checked into the hotel, put in a preorder for dinner, then spent the late afternoon at Reserva Montetik where we saw Guatemalan Pygmy-Owl up in the pines and some roosting Bearded Screech-Owls right before dark.
The following morning, we went back to Montetik. It was raining on and off, but it cleared up as we climbed up the steep switchbacks into humid conifer forest. The Chiranthodendron trees were flowering attracting loads of Garnet-throated Hummingbirds, Amethyst-throated Mountain-Gems and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We crossed paths with Unicolored Jays a couple times, a migrant Golden-cheeked Warbler, Spot-crowned and Strong-billed Woodcreepers and the star of the morning: Pink-headed Warbler that popped out in front of us at eye level. We had lunch in downtown San Cristobal then toured around the plaza for a while, enjoying the live marimba music.
It was nice and overcast for our morning at Sumidero Canyon. Along the lower stretch of the road, we had incredible views of a male Red-breasted Chat, some White-lored Gnatcatchers and Streak-backed Orioles coming to the bottlebrush flowers. Further up the road we found Russet-crowned Motmots and a pair of Belted Flycatchers that showed right before we saw a male Blue Seedeater. Way cool! We found a Middle American Screech-Owl roosting in some vine tangles, then we continued to the final mirador. After a great buffet lunch in Chiapa de Corzo, we drove down towards Arriaga, stopping at the overlook on the way down. The wind was howling like crazy, but we managed to pull out a Rose-bellied Bunting, several Scrub and Yellow-throated Euphonias and a Cinnamon-tailed Sparrow that was missing its tail (the most important part of the bird!).
The wind continued to blow like crazy the next morning, but we persevered through it, finding our targets that we had missed the day before: Green-fronted Hummingbird, Orange-breasted Bunting and eventually, Citreoline Trogon. From Arriaga we drove south along the coastal plain of Chiapas. At our lunch spot we encountered our first Giant Wrens duetting loudly in the trees. We reached Mapastepec, got checked into the rooms then drove out the road to El Castaño where we saw a roosting Northern Potto, Southern Lapwings, Rose-throated Becard, Turquoise-browed Motmots and some copulating Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. Lesser Nighthawks dotted the peach-colored sunset.
Before our mangrove canoe ride at El Castaño, we made several stops along the entrance road finding Double-striped Thick-knees, Yellow-naped Amazons, both Giant and Rufous-backed Wrens, Spot-breasted Orioles and Cinnamon Hummingbirds pollinating some pink Kapok flowers. In the mangroves we saw a pair of Mangrove Vireos, several skulking Agami Herons, close Pygmy Kingfishers, a pair of White-necked Puffbirds, more roosting Northern Potoos, Least Grebes, Sungrebes and Boat-billed Herons all over the place. We came back for a nice buffet lunch of shrimp and fish prepared in various ways, then we drove back to Mapastepec for a much-needed mid-day break. In the late afternoon we walked a side road outside of Mapastepec where we called in Pacific Screech-Owl, our final screech-owl of the tour.
Our morning at El Paval, in the foothills of El Triunfo Reserve, is always highly productive. This year we saw over 80 species in a single morning including both White-faced and Gray-crowned Ground-Sparrows, Tody, Lesson’s and Turquoise-browed Motmots, Chestnut-capped and Fan-tailed Warblers, Stub-tailed Spadebill and a male Long-tailed Manakin feeding on fig fruits. We came back to the hotel for lunch, loaded up and drove the windy road to Union Juarez, on the flanks of Volcan Tacana.
The road we bird to Chiquihuites was under construction, which meant we couldn’t drive in, so we spent all morning on our feet. It was tough birding with so many construction trucks going by, but we managed to find a Blue-and-white Mockingbird feeding on fruits, some eye-level Blue-throated Motmots, a Highland Guan through the scope, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, Common Chlorospingus and an overwintering Golden-winged Warbler. We had lunch back in town, then birded the steep road above the town of Talquian. Guatemala was a stone’s throw away. Here, we saw several Sparkling-tailed Hummingbirds and Green-throated Mountain-Germs coming to some white flowering bushes. After that, we birded the lower Chiquihuites road where we saw Azure-rumped Tanagers and a pair of Mottled Owls right at dusk. A White-throated Thrush came to mob the owls while we were watching them.
The next day we had to get past the construction crew before they started working, so we left at 5:15 in the morning and drove up to the town of Chiquihuites. We set up a picnic breakfast then met Toledo, our local guide. Along our walk down we found both Yellow and Hooded Grosbeaks, a female Blue Seedeater in some bamboo, White-breasted Sharp-Shinned Hawk, some close Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireos, Band-backed Wrens and some distant Blue-crowned Chlorophonias. Toledo did some mob tape and two male Sparkling-tailed Hummingbirds sat right in front of us. We had our final lunch back in Union Juarez, then drove down to Tapachula where we saw Lesser Swallow-tailed Swifts, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper and Great-crested Flycatcher around the hotel grounds.
We said goodbyes to some of the group members, then Jorge, the driver, drove us all the way to Tuxtla for our El Triunfo tour where we’d see Horned Guans, Quetzals, Black-throated Jays to add to our Chiapas list. We’d like to thank you all for joining us for a fun ten days in southern Mexico—we look forward to the next time we can bird together!
Mammals
Red-bellied Squirrel (Sciurus aureogaster) The common squirrel in the lowlands.
Deppe's Squirrel (Sciurus deppei) We saw one the afternoon at Montetik. Also at Volcan Tacana.
Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) Some folks saw one at our hotel in Tapachula.
White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica) We saw a big group of these in a fig tree above Arriaga.
Northern Neotropical River Otter (Lontra annectens) We saw one swimming by on our mangrove canoe ride at El Castaño.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/490073
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/elt26TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Micah and Jorge