Mexico to London

Within a day of me flying into London for my Christmas break, the Hiley brothers headed off to Balham to catch up with an iconic winter visitor - the Waxwing.

There's a chance I'll get Cedar Waxwings in Mexico this winter. These are a different species, but from the same family.

Here's a series of photos taken by Xander.

Birding and Pyramiding

Been spending the day at the Teotihuican Pyramids today prior to flying out. Our hotel (Villas Arqueologicas) has some pretty nice gardens, so, needless to say, I had an explore at first light.

Some pishing brought me a nice selection of American Warblers - Yellow Rumped (Audubon's) by the dozen, 4 Wilson's Warblers, an Orange-crowned and a fine Townsend's. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet was also knocking around.

A few Curve-billed Thrashers thrashed on the lawn, and higher up in the trees I had Cassin's Kingbirds and a nice flock of Rufous-backed Robins.

I couldn't resist snapping some Inca Doves.

Or this cheeky Bewick's Wren - one of 2 scuttling mouse-like along the tree trunks.

A Hammond's Flycatcher high up in the conifer provided me with another Empidomax headache, but that was soothed by good views of Mexican Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Bullock's Oriole.

There wasn't a lot of bird activity around the pyramids themselves. Lark, House, Clay-coloured and Chipping Sparrows took some picking out in the long grass. Much more obliging were the numerous Canyon Towhees..

And this Say's Phoebe:

My last day's birding in Mexico before a little Christmas break in England. Future blog posts are set to include:

26th December - Wirral Boxing Day Bonanza

27th December - Peak District Bash

1st January - The Big Day

4th - 6th January - BENELUX

Returning to Mexico on the 7th January for more lifers and banter..

Waxwing Bonanza in Balham

Much as freezing cold weather brings travel chaos to many, so it brings Waxwings to London. No problems for these guys to do a bit of international commuting around Christmas.

The flock has been reported around Balham for the last week now, with numbers ranging between 20 and 80 (peak count). I had about 50 this morning and even saw 3 near Clapham Common tube when I nipped out for my morning coffee.

Although the light wasn't great I managed to do a good bit of paparazzi before having a quick walk across the common. I met four other birders down at the Waxwing tree this morning and we got some strange looks I can tell you. Highlights of the day include:

1) Being invited in for a "coffee" by a young lady who could see them from her window. The proposition theme starting to emerge now on the back of Xander's layby offering by the French trucker..... - hot.

2) Some posh t**ts taking the piss on their way to work - idiots.

3) One of the birders being a bit overly keen to take a dead Waxwing home in his rucksack - macabre.

Here are some shots.....

This poor guy must have broken his neck after hitting a window, but was a good weight suggesting he was well fed. Apparently, 5th year male. One tip of pink "wax" for every year on the males.

The bad light left some exposure issues which I started to work round. 

The Waxxys were joined by some Mistle Thrush and Blackbirds.

Quick walk on the Common got me a Skylark - a pretty big tick for Clapham and certainly one of my top birds of SW4.

Some classic geese of the pond; Greylag, Canada and Egyptian. 

Good gull numbers: BH, H, LBB and Common.

Back to the Berry Tree and the birds dropped in quickly. 

"Art" birding

Finally two shots I am very happy with.......

Suspect they'll be around until the berries are gone so Jonty and Xander have a "chance" on Thursday.

Bits and Pieces

On a return to the 'Hidden Gem' (small Bordo mentioned in an earlier post) , the flock of Long-billed Dowitchers had increased to 24. Also present were 9 Least Sandpipers, 6 Spotted Sandpipers and 12 Black-necked Stilts.

46 Cattle Egrets fed, and on the water were 5 Shovelers. I locked onto 3 more Grey Flycatchers and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet among the commoner birds (Blue Grosbeaks, Verm Flycatchers, Kingbirds, Loggerhead Shrikes, Clay-coloured and Lark Sparrows).

4 Turkey Vultures were over Tequis yesterday, the most I've seen this year.

Today, I had another Empid. species by the Rio San Juan. I'm leaning towards Cordilleran but am awaiting feedback from more experienced sources.

Tequis from Above

We got a different perspective on Tequisquiapan yesterday - a bird's eye view if you like. Though I wasn't initially keen on the idea of floating in a basket thousands of feet up, being in a hot air balloon was a serene experience, and allowed me to take some nice photos of the town and surrounds.

Here's a nice overall picture of Tequis - La Presa is at the top left.

Below is my workplace - Institue Bilingue Victoria

Here's the Plaza (centre) and Parque La Pila (bottom).

Ballooning at dawn...

Hidden Gem

While out with the running club today, I stumbled across a hidden little lake, east of Tequisquiapan, and just a 5 minute run away from school.

Returned with the telescope to see what was about, and I wasn't disappointed. 14 Long-billed Dowitchers probed the shallows, and there were 6 Black-necked Stilts as well.

I used the cows as a hide...

And it did the trick. Closer scanning of the wader scrapes turned up a Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Spotted Sandpipers and 2 Least Sandpipers. An Egret flock contained 20 Cattles, 1 Snowy and 1 Great White, and there were 3 Shovelers and a Ruddy Duck on the water itself.

There were plenty of Blue Grosbeaks, a bird rare in other parts of town, and typically high numbers of Vermilion Flycatchers, Loggerhead Shrikes and Kingbirds. It was one particular critter that caught my attention, though. I was into an Empidomax Flycatcher sp., from a family of birds that are difficult to tell apart. Luckily, I was able to fire off a few record shots..

Certain features - long flat bill, yellow lower mandible, the habitat, and the way it downward tail flicked allowed me to confirm that it was a Gray Flycatcher. Not the most colourful, but they all count.

One Grey Day in Richmond Park

Jealous of Jonty's reservoir blog I picked up the camera and went down to Richmond Park yesterday. Despite the grey, overcast conditions I felt there was always the outside possibility of a Waxwing or some such winter treat (GG Shrike, Smew, BN Grebe, Slavs and Firecrest have all been recorded in RP). Unfortunately I had to make do with commoner fare, bagging a good list of 39 - not bad for two hours in December within the M25!

This character's been visiting the Mews all winter - he loves peanuts and likes fighting Carrion Crows and cats.

Cock Robin was busy defending territory.

A classic mammal of RP

 Another classic mammal of RP

Green Woodpeckers coming out of yer arse all day. Each one of them equally sour as the previous.

Never in the history of evolution has an animal occurred that is so consistently sour.

Seemed to be plenty of food around for Jays.

While the parakeets tucked in to "some sort of fungus" - rancid.

 Unfortunately not Ring Billed.

Not a Canvasback.....

Sick

A bird of Mexican reservoirs and the British lakes.

This poor lady didn't know what she was about to get into. It looked like it was about to kick off....

So I got out of there for a bacon butty. This chap was eyeing me up but got none of it.

Looking forward to the Benelux bonanza number 2. Already planning to bring flask and some good snacks!!