20 March 2009

Mountain-Gems and Motmots in the Mountains…(Chiapas, Mexico): 11 March 2009


Our day started in the Pacific slope lowlands just outside Mapastapec, in the so-called ‘Microwave Valley’, where we picked up two key endemic birds – the Rufous-breasted Spinetail, and a pair of White-bellied Chachalacas, that were being surprisingly quiet. Other finds there included a party of noisy Giant Wrens, in addition to the miraculously Giant Wren-like form of the Rufous-naped Wren.

The afternoon was just great, working a steep mountain trail very close to the Guatemalan border near the town of Union Juarez. We had a cracking afternoon on the flanks of Volcan Tacana, with a female Emerald-chinned Hummingbird working a bloom, several Green-throated Mountain-Gems (see photo), and our first Blue-tailed Hummer too. Best performance thought was by a pair of Blue-throated Motmots, a lifebird even for an experienced neotropical birder and dedicated ‘Mexican’ birder present.

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