Guadalajara, Mexico

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I was lucky enough to have business in Guadalajara on Monday and so I added on the weekend in order to do some birding. I was very impressed by the beauty and cleanliness of the city, which also has a reputation for being one of the safest cities in Mexico. (Drug violence has not reached it and the rate of "normal" crime there is very low.)

I birded one of the many city parks - Parque Los Colomos - for 4 hours on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday I did an hour's excellent birding on the grounds of the Universidad Autonoma before I was asked to leave by security guards: You need a permit to visit and to take photos! I followed up with another 4 productive hours back in Parque Los Colomos; even though the park was very busy with Mexican families, I was able to find plenty of quiet nooks that were full of birds. Then on Monday morning I fitted in a couple of hours in a one-block park near where I was staying and working.

Some of the birds were ones that I often see in Texas, such as Great-tailed Grackle.

Others were ones that I only occasionally get to see in southeast Texas, such as Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Vermilion Flycatcher and Cave Swallow.

 

 

There were several species that I normally have to travel further afield to see, such as Lark Sparrow and Great Kiskadee.

  

Then there were birds that were completely new to me, including the Orange-fronted Parakeet.

The bird that I particularly wanted to find and photograph was the Russet-crowned Motmot. Did I find it? Well, I'll tell you tomorrow or Saturday, when I post further about my Mexico trip. After that, it'll be a few days before I can post the rest of my report,  because we're spending the weekend at High Island, hoping to catch the end of the spring songbird migration. With southerly winds forecast, the weather doesn't look favorable for migrants. However, the trip should still be worthwhile since there will be lots of activity at the wading-bird rookery at High Island and we may also fit it a quick tour of Anahuac NWR. Wish us luck!

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