Fuentesuelas Lago - The Three Teal Challenge

The town of Fuentesuelas is 10km west of Tequisquiapan, and I'd passed it numerous times on a bus, each time noticing a promising looking lake not too far from the main road.

This morning, I packed camera and bins and jogged there - birding along the way. The agricultural land along the Queretaro highway strongly contrasts with the semi-desert that surrounds the rest of Tequis, and consequently, I found a few different species.

The Trupials (Grackles, Cowbirds and allies) love feeding on agricultural waste and were particularly conspicuous. In amongst one flock, I was pleased to find a female Yellow-headed Blackbird. This poor picture has been brightened up to highlight it.

Also along the highway I had American Kestrel (5), Clay-coloured, House and Lark Sparrows (all in large numbers), Vermilion Flycatchers, Lesser Golfinch (10), Yellow-rumped Warbler (16), Loggerhead Shrike (8), Curve-billed Thrasher, all 3 doves, and 2 gorgeous Black-shouldered Kites.

Access to the Lake isn't ideal. The main road to the east of it is private property, so I had to crawl through a dried up tunnel to get close. Certainly worth it. The small lake held some stunning wildfowl. Rafts of American Coots were plentiful, but approximately 100 Pintail, some in stunning breeding plumage, stole the show initially. Some Northern Shovelers dabbled, but they weren't in the same concentration as they are at La Presa.

I walked around the shore and had just cottoned on to a wader flock including 6 Black-necked Stilts, a Spotted Sandpiper and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs (see below), when an angry looking pack of dogs popped up, putting the waders to flight.

I beat a hasty retreat, cursing the dogs, and wondering what I was missing on the other side of the lake. Walking back to the road, though, I saw a small spit teeming with birds. Closer inspection revealed a Great White Egret, some Snowy Egrets and a lot of roosting Pintails. In amongst them were some smaller duck, though. Firstly, Green-winged Teals, very similar to our Eurasian Teals, with only the males easily separable. Sitting very close to them were some beautiful summer-plumaged Blue-winged Teals, showing off their white face masks. Best of all though was a small rusty coloured duck nestled in with the BWTs - my first Cinnamon Teal.

With the 'Three Teal Challenge' duly completed it was time to head back to Tequis, via a stop at the conveniently located (100m down the road from the Lake) Restaurante La Galeria for a well-earned Coke. Interestingly, some introduced Monk Parakeets flew overhead to and from a communal nest in a nearby tree.