March 1-8, 2026 with Chris Benesh & Doug Gochfeld
Mexico’s state of Oaxaca sits in an enviable, biologically diverse place, offering a rich variety of habitats ranging from lowland thorn scrub in the Pacific to mixed coniferous forest in the highlands, descending into rich cloud forest on the Gulf slope. It has the most diverse avifauna of any state in Mexico. The Oaxaca Valley tour is designed to tap into a couple of distinct areas that are high in regional endemism. These include the arid, cactus-rich habitat that forms a fringe around the interior of Oaxaca, as well as the oak and pine-oak zones that rise above these. Our tour had six days to explore these varied habitats.
The floor of the Oaxaca Valley, at around 5000 feet in elevation, has been heavily anthropogenically altered. A flourishing mezcal production industry has transformed natural cactus thorn-scrub into fields of agave in many places. Yet despite this, many of the original avian inhabitants still thrive in places. This is important as many occur nowhere else on Earth. Our tour began exploring some of this habitat near the town of Teotitlan del Valle, including birding around one of the region's most precious resources, water. The reservoir of Piedra Azul was filled with a variety of waterbirds and others coming to it to drink and bathe. The habitat surrounding Monte Alban, Highway 175 near Pollo Niño, Presa La Mina, and Kilometer 77 were other examples of thornscrub. Here such goodies as Bridled Sparrow, Slaty and Golden vireos, Pileated and Nutting’s flycatchers, Black-vented and Streak-backed orioles, West Mexican Chachalacas, and many others were found.
Venturing higher into the mountains, thornscrub gives way to oaks, then long-needled pines, and ultimately, a splendid mix of giant oaks and pines, these shrouded in epiphytes. Here is habitat for a memorable assortment of birds. Red and Golden-browed warblers, Dwarf Jay, Gray-barred Wren, Russet Nightingale-Thrush, Long-tailed Wood-Partridge, Brown-backed Solitaire, Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, Rufous-capped and Chestnut-capped brushfinches, and Black-headed Siskins are just a tiny sample of what is possible. Thankfully, we had a some really wonderful experiences in the highlands. That first magical hour or two at La Cumbre where birds were coming fast and furious. And then there was the hot chocolate and feast at Restaurant Colibri.
Doug and I have a reputation for bringing rain to drought-stricken areas, and we even managed to squeeze out a little rain in the highlands during our night birding up on Cerro San Felipe. Not ideal for the owls we were seeking, but it didn’t keep us from enjoying an endemic scorpion (Vaejovis franckei) and a small Myotis bat roosting at a dry spot out of the rain. We also took in the Tule Tree, an ancient, massive Montezuma Cypress tree in the town of Santa Maria del Tule. We also had a mezcal during lunch one day, and a demonstration of rug dyeing and weaving in Teotitlan del Valle. And importantly, Jorge Herrera gave us expert guided tours of Monte Alban and Mitla, highlighting the important cultural significance of the region.
Doug and I wish to thank all of you for joining us on this adventure in Mexico. The group really makes the trip, and y’all were wonderful.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/490116
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/oax26aTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Chris