Wader Heaven at La Llave

A fine selection of waders was to be had at La Llave on Saturday morning.  Water levels are low at this reservoir as well, but the large expanses of exposed muds held some really interesting species.

As well as the gorgeous Wilson's Phalaropes pictured in the last post, I had the following (along with some notes about each one based on my observations).

American Golden Plover - 1.  A rare bird in Queretaro, and a first for me.

American Golden Plover

 2. Black-bellied Plover. 1. Again, a rarity in Queretaro, normally confined to the coasts in Mexico.

3. Semipalmated Plover. 4.  A good number of this coastal plover.

4.  Killdeer. Common.  Starting to get very territorial.

5. Spotted Sandpiper.  A lot, including two very territorial males (see below).  Do they breed round here?

Spotted Sandpiper

6. Least Sandpiper.  Several hundred.  Common winter visitor.

7. Baird's Sandpiper. 3.  Much more common in autumn, where they can be found in their 1000s.  I haven't recorded them previously this spring, though.

Baird's Sandpiper

 7. Pectoral Sandpiper. 6.  A good number of a bird only found here during passage.

Pectoral Sandpipers

8. Stilt Sandpiper. 5.  Winters in small numbers and more frequent in passage.

9. Long-billed Dowitcher.  >1000.  Huge numbers of this elegant wader, almost all of them  in breeding plumage as well.

10. Black-necked Stilt.  Quite common year round.

Black-necked Stilt

11.  Avocet. 5. Seem to be more prominent on passage.

12. Lesser Yellowlegs. c.20.  Seem to be many here and at Centenario during spring.

13. Greater Yellowlegs. 4

14. Wilson's Phalaropes. 200.

Not  a bad haul of waders all in all.  I'll try and get back there before the season is over, because it will probably get very quiet during the summer.

Non-wader highlights included hordes of White-throated Swifts, 1 Crested Caracara, 1 Northern Harrier, decent variety of ducks still (inc. American Wigeon, Gadwall, Pintail, all 3 Teals, and 1 Fulvous Whistler), Common Yellowthroat, Barn, Cliff and Bank Swallows. and plenty of other common stuff.

La Llave holds the key to Wilson

Brilliant session at La Llave this morning including getting close to this selection of Wilson's Phalaropes.  Many, many waders there altogether.  Full report to follow.  

Work Hard. Play Hard. Becard.

I was denied access to the Park late in the evening today, where I had wanted to take some sunset photos of the Heronry.  Instead, I went to a little patch just opposite Parque la Pila behind the 'Hotel del Parque'.  There, I encountered a great species for Queretaro - a pair of Rose-throated Becards.  This bird is common and widespread in the tropics of Mexico, but isn't found on the central plateau, and may indeed be a new species for the state.

Rose-throated Becard, female

Rose-throated Becard, male

At the same patch were some other interesting birds, including Western Tanager, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren and Nashville Warbler.

American Avocet and Wilson's Phalarope, Tequisquiapan

Some shots of two beautiful species, especially when in breeding plumage.  Taken at Presa Centenario, Tequisquiapan 10th April 2013.

Parque la Pila Heronry...feat. 'the Undertaker' and 'Kvak'

Parque la Pila in central Tequisquiapan hosts a Heronry which is starting to get nice and busy.  

The Great Egrets (aka the Undertaker) get started early.  Today, I counted at least 27 nests high up in the tree tops..

Less obvious are the Black-crowned Night Herons  (aka Perro de Agua, aka 'Kvak').  They nest in smaller numbers here and a bit later.  These characters were busy collecting nest material...

Watch out.  Kvak is about.

Water of Life

Back in March a few years ago, the Presa was completely dried up, bar the stagnant river running down to the dam (http://hileybirding.blogspot.mx/2011/03/presa-centenario-dried-up.html).  This happened largely as a result of the management (CONAGUA) draining all of the water from the reservoir.  The results were disastrous - thousands of wintering wildfowl had to prematurely leave the Presa at an important stage.   

Despite a lot of draining this year, a decent amount of water remains in the Presa and it is thankfully still home to both a lot of wildfowl as they feed up ahead of their northward migration, and to migrating waders passing through and using it as a 'staging post'..

Today, Northern Shovelers were feeding like crazy...

Northern Shoveler 'shoal feeding'

Also present were Mexican Ducks, Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals and Ruddy Ducks.  Also on the water were many Eared Grebes and 1 Least Grebe. The biggest attraction, though, was the migrant waders feeding around the exposed edges of the reservoir. 

I encountered 11 species - Least Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers, 4 Western Sandpipers, 6 Stilt Sandpipers, 12 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 American Avocets, 2 Black-necked Stilts, 25 Wilson's Phalaropes, 18 Long-billed Dowitchers, many Killdeers, and 1 Snowy Plover..

Stilt Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper

Killdeer

Snowy Plover

Long-billed Dowitcher

Lesser Yellowlegs

 Save the best for last, though..As I was watching the waders, they suddenly took off.  Eyes to the skies and I saw a beautiful hovering Osprey.  This cracking raptor is making the journey north to its breeding grounds.  Part of me was sad, though.  The Osprey hovered over the water, obviously expecting or hoping to spot some decent sized fish to eat to give him energy for the onward trip.

Unfortunately, he was never likely to find anything in this dirty reservoir.  He moved on pretty promptly..

Osprey

The Garden Gang

Here's some very dodgy record shots of some of the more unusual visitors to the garden in recent weeks...

Lincoln's Sparrow

Orchard Oriole

Black-vented Oriole

Summer Tanager

White-collared Seedeater

Western Tanager

Rufous-backed Robin

Rufous- backed Robin

Migration Watch - Los Sabinos

My landlady had been keeping the feeding station topped up whilst I was away in England.  When I returned, things were absolutely kicking off.

Spending the afternoon in the garden yesterday, I had a brilliant selection of species..

The highlights were 3 species that I hadn't seen before in the state, never mind in the garden.  Firstly, two true migrants - a Yellow-breasted Chat and an Orchard Oriole.  These species must have been passing through on their way north to breeding grounds in the U.S.A.

Perhaps even better was a Rufous-backed Robin coming down to a drink.  This species is a West Mexican endemic, and it's range is nowhere near Queretaro.  What was it doing here?  Will it stick around?

I fired off some awful record shots which I'll upload tomorrow.

Also knocking around:
6 Abeille's Orioles,
2 Hooded Orioles,
Broad-billed and Violet-crowned Hummingbirds,
Clay-coloured Robin,
Audubon's Warbler,
House Sparrows,
Lincoln's Sparrow,
Starlings,
2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker,
1 Western Tanager,
1 White-collared Seedeater,
White-winged Doves,
Barn Swallows,
1 Wilson's Warbler.

I need to spend more time in the garden over the next few weeks to see what else passes through, that is for sure.

Parque 2000 - Queretaro Birding

After a cold Easter break in England, I returned to the warmer climes of Mexico yesterday and kicked off the new term's birding with an afternoon's walk around the reservoir at Parque 2000 in Queretaro.

I was surprised to see that large numbers of wintering wildfowl still remained on the lake.  The usual cast of ducks were still there (Northern Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, Mexican Duck, Ruddy Duck).  It is possible that the Mexican Ducks (which occur here in larger numbers than most other places in Queretaro) will stay on to breed, as might a few pairs of Ruddy Ducks..

At the same time, some breeding activity was in evidence, most notably perhaps 8 pairs of Least Grebes going about their business (mating, collecting nest material etc).  There also appeared to be a number of Black-necked Stilts sitting on nests.  Hopefully, they will be successful in this disturbed, urban environment.

My most pleasing sighting of the afternoon was some migrating Northern Rough-winged Swallows mixed in with the hordes of Barn Swallows..