October 7-17, 2024 with Sam Wilson & Jorge Montejo-Diaz
The rich Mexican state of Veracruz has an immediate association with birders as the site of the largest hawk migration in the world. However, beyond the great raptor spectacle, the diversity of habitats, abundance of Mexican endemics, vital Mesoamerican history, and amazing variety of migrants of different phylogenies, makes Veracruz a must see destination for anyone interested in Mexico and the great migrations of the world. Our tour began on the outskirts of Veracruz city, at the historic Mocambo hotel, an interesting vestige of 1940s and 50s Mexican movie history and early celebrity destination. The waterfront is moderately developed but provides sandy beaches and a few rock jetties that attract shorebirds. Copses of palms and brushy veg provide habitat for some easterly gulf migrants like Eastern Phoebe, Swainson’s Thrush, and Yellow-throated Warbler.
We departed our first morning to a riparian area just outside the coastal town of Antón Lizardo. We got our first looks at a number of Red-billed Pigeons flying out to start their day, Groove-billed Anis, a number of heron species, and about 15 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. We were swamped out on our way to the beach by high water but fortuitously during our retreat were alerted by a local amigo of guide Jorge Montejo about a Potoo that may be roosting on a nearby farm. We quickly made our way to the farm and were treated to a fledgling Northern Potoo perched under the canopy. It was a special opportunity to see this young bird in pristine pearly white and speckled plumage.
We moved north to the town of Cardel, the base of operations for the Río de Rapaces (River of Raptors) for the next 4 days. The hawk watch at Cardel is an observation area on the roof of Hotel Bienvenido where we stay in town. The second Hawk Watch is just a 10 minute drive to the west at a site called Chichicaxtle. Jorge and a few friends were the primary investigators and founders during the 1990s at these now famous hawk counts at Cardel and Chichicaxtle. On that first afternoon at Chichi we were stunned by a mega-kettle of 15,000-20,000 Swainson’s Hawks! The next morning was highly productive at a coastal hotspot not far north of Cardel where we enjoyed a mix of migrant and local passerines as well as nice variety of shorebirds. We had beautiful looks at the brilliant orange Altamira Orioles, Rose-throated Becards, and Squirrel Cuckoo and close looks at a curious Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and 4 species of falcon (including actively hunting Aplomado Falcons). The beach was fresh with large tidal pools from high tides and recent rains. It hosted an impressive 6 species of plover including our first looks at Collared Plover. We also hit two big target endemics, Veracruz Wren and Mexican Sheartail, finding several active pairs of wrens that showed off for us in the Australian Pines. Veracruz Wren is a recent (and long anticipated) split from Rufous-naped Wren and has a very small range entirely contained to central Veracruz. Mexican Sheartail is another local endemic, also with a small but disjunct range, found only in Veracruz state and north coastal Yucatan. A huge active flock of Fulvous Whistling Ducks punctuated our small boat cruise on the Río Antigua that evening, and we had nice looks at Amazon and Ringed Kingfisher, and a butt-bobbing Louisiana Waterthrush on an emergent branch. At the river estuaries outlet we had lots of shorebird and tern activity, with a number of feeding American Avocets, Sanderings, Ruddy Turnstones, and a single Red Knot. Black Skimmers, Gull-billed Terns, and Sandwich Terns were in abundance as well as a few Franklin’s Gulls milling around with the much more common Laughing Gulls.
An inland excursion the next day in the foothills netted us some of the first Lark Sparrows and Grasshopper Sparrow of the season. In a private reserve we located some goodies like Black-headed Trogon, Collared Forest-Falcon, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Green Kingfisher and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator. The hawk show in the afternoon had slowed a bit for a few days and was often quite high but even on ‘slow days’ we tallied 10,000 Swainson Hawks, Turkey Vultures, and Broadwing hawks in an hour or two. The next few days at coastal lagoons and reserves kept us up early to beat the heat, but it was well worth the effort for Montezuma Oropendolas, Mexican endemic Yellow-winged Tanager, a number of parrot species like White-fronted Amazon, and some exciting raptor finds like Zone-tailed Hawk, Gray Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Great Black Hawk, and Hook-billed Kite. Everywhere along the coast the evidence of migratory movement was on display. Butterflies and dragonflies moved in astounding numbers and great variety, constant color added to the beaches and lagoons while we searched for birds.
We visited several archeological and cultural sites like Quiahuiztlan, a precolonial site important to the Totonac people, and the site of the earliest colony in the New World (1519) established by the Spanish Conquistadors. We saw the fascinating old town and headquarters of Hernán Cortéz, where indigenous subjugation and slavery on the American continent began and where untold billions (in today's dollars) of gold was processed and sent back to Spain. Our last afternoon spent at Chichicaxtle included a bonus cultural experience as we enjoyed the costumes, music, and vendors at the annual Festival de Las Aves. We also enjoyed a movement of hawks appropriately there for the festival!
On part II of the trip, we welcomed a change in scenery and especially enjoyed a respite from the oppressive heat of the lowlands as we worked our way up to Xalapa. A beautiful town with large accessible parks set in the foothills, Xalapa (pronounced hah-la-pa) is also the capital of Veracruz State. On the way into town, we stopped and found some targets like Plain-breasted Ground Dove, Mexican Sheartail, Grass Wren, Botteri’s Sparrow, and spotted some unexpected (late) Grassland Yellow-Finches. Though songbird migration was a bit slow this trip, the local parks in Xalapa provided us with a fascinating East-meets-West mix of warblers and songbirds including Magnolia, MacGillivray’s, Black-throated Green, Nashville, Blue-winged Warbler, and Ovenbird. We checked off a fun variety of hummingbirds including Wedge-tailed Saberwing, Azure-crowned Hummingbird, and Berylline Hummingbird. Taking advantage of our outpost in Xalapa we ventured up to 12,000 feet, stopping at several locations for some Mexican endemics and mountain specialties. Though we weren’t able to tease out the very evasive Bearded Wood-Partridge, we did have them calling on either side of the road from us while Bumblebee Hummingbirds buzzed in and out of the thick roadside flower patches. We had nice looks in several locations at some crowd-favorite Red Warblers and Crescent-chested Warblers and saw Rufous-capped Brushfinch, Hepatic Tanagers, and endemic Transvolcanic Jays. The Pine Forest at 12,000 feet was rich with new birds, some familiar to USA based birders like Dusky Flycatcher, Pygmy Nuthatches, and American Robins, but also featured Gray Silky-flycatchers, Pine Flycatcher, and endemic Collared Towhee. We also were lucky to see the extremely range-restricted Strickland’s Woodpecker remarkably well. After an excellent lunch in the highland town of Perote, we drove west near the Veracruz state border where there is a clear change into much drier conditions. Though Ocellated Thrasher remained hidden, the endemic (and sole member of its genus) Striped Sparrow was spotted amongst the tall yucca stalks and we were able to view it for an extended period. We also admired an active contingent of Woodhouse’s Scrub Jays. The subspecies here, ‘Sumichrasts Jay’, is unique and almost certainly will be split in the future.
The last two days were punctuated by the group voted trip highlight bird, Blue-capped Motmot, at a local park and a nice variety of migrants and locals like Flame-colored Tanager, Yellow-throated Euphonia, and Black-headed Saltator. Capping the trip was a last stop in the humid lowlands to the south to see a number of new birds like Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, and a lots of foraging Double-striped Thick-knees.
Thanks to all who joined us on this fantastic trip. Jorge and I enjoyed the camaraderie and appreciation for the magic of migration in this special place at the crux of two continents. Looking forward to seeing you all down the road and good birding in the future!
Special thanks to participant Jeff Pavlik for the comprehensive list of butterflies seen on the trip. The list is attached in the downloadable pdf below.
Additional taxa:
Mammals:
Proboscis Bat (Rhynchonycteris naso)
Varigeate Squirrel (Sciurus varigatoides)
Reptiles and Amphibians:
Vermiculated Tree Frog
Green Iguana
Mexican Racerunner
Rose-bellied Lizard
Eastern Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/284759
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ver24TRIPLIST.pdf
Sam Wilson