Giant Wrens & Dancing Manakins in Chiapas…(Chiapas, Mexico): 10 March 2009

We spent a day birding south of the Isthmus, just a short drive out of Mapastepec. A short way down a road with scattered trees, farm houses and agricultural land we found a pair of the biggest wrens on Earth, the lone endemic to Chiapas state, Giant Wren (see bottom photo). The same area also held our first Spot-breasted Orioles. Later in the morning we also found a few Prevost’s Ground-Sparrows, Yellow-winged Tanagers and a nice male Rose-throated Becard. However, one of the best displays of the day was left until late on when we found a lek area for a couple of impressively ‘endowed’ male Long-tailed Manakins (see top photo), when two males ‘danced’ for us.