Huimilpan

I had an excellent day of birding around the small town of Huimilpan in the South-west of Queretaro today.  The town boasted some interesting habitats I wanted to check out - some promising looking reservoirs, river canyons and some well wooded mountains.

On the walk out of town, I was quickly into typical scrub birds - Canyon Towhee, Lark Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Curve-billed Thrasher, Cactus Wren, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladderback, Broad-billed Hummingbird.

As I approached the reservoir (below), I started seeing a number of pairs of Eastern Meadowlarks, as well as small groups of Vesper Sparrows.  A flash of black and white also heralded my first ever Lark Bunting.

Huimilpan Reservoir, with the 'Forested Mountain' in the background

The reservoir held a good amount of water, and some really interesting ducks.  Straight away I noticed large numbers of Gadwall (40+). Usually, I only see the odd pair in Queretaro.  Even better, though, were at least 8 Buffleheads, including two males.

Buffleheads

Also on the water were Green-winged Teals, Blue-winged Teals, American Wigeons, Ring-necked Duck (1), Ruddy Duck, Mexican Duck and Northern Shovelers, as well as Eared Grebes and 1 Pied-billed Grebe.

Cow

After leaving the reservoir, I followed the 'Canyon River' south towards the 'Forested Mountain'.  The canyon held some pretty decent wildlife.  I disturbed lots of hares, and a bit of pishing brought in some difficult to see species, such as Bushtits, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Grey Warbler and Wilson's Warbler. 

Vermilion Flycatcher

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, pished in

 Leaving the river, I started to blast up the forested mountain, climbing through nice smelling pine-oak woodland.  It was pretty steep and the pine needles made the ground extremely slippy.  Needless to say, I 'came a cropper' on numerous occasions.

Good views from the top, though.

Views from the 'Forested Mountain'

A few decent birds as well, not least a pair of White-tailed Hawks.

White-tailed Hawk

 There wasn't as much as I hoped for in the woods (it was during the hottest part of the day), but I still scored with White-eared Hummingbird, Greater Peewee, Hermit Warbler and Townsend's Warbler.

White-eared Hummingbird

Ended the day with 70 species, which is a fair whack.

Presa Constitucion de 1917, San Gil

A great birding site with fresh, clean water, which attracts a really interesting avifauna.

The abundance of fish here attracts pescivorous birds which are hard to find elsewhere in Queretaro, notably Neotropic Cormorants, American White Pelicans, and a variety of Herons.  The site also hosts excellent numbers of waders, particularly in passage, and on my trip with Xander, we discovered some really interesting nearby habitats.

Here are the Pelicans.  We had about 80 birds, loafing around and occasionally taking to the skies in spectacular formations.  Hanging around with the Pelican flocks were 8 Ring-billed Gulls.

In terms of waders, we dropped on to Least Sands, Spotted Sands, 2 Western Sands, 3 Semipalmated Plovers, Killdeers, Black-necked Stilts, 4 Greater Yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitchers.  In passage, it is also possible to find Pectoral Sands, Lesser Yellowlegs,American Avocets, Black-bellied Plovers and Wilson's Phalaropes here (and potentially many more!).

Constitucion is decent for hirundines as well.  We had Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows here.  Cliff and Bank are also possible.

Barn Swallow

We followed the river which leads into the Reservoir upstream for a while, and discovered some quality wooded, riparian habitat.  A bit of tactical 'pishing' brought close the following: Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Audubon's Warblers, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, Nashville Warbler and Vermilion Flycatchers.  Amazingly, we also clocked on to two Grey Silkys, a very unusual bird to find in this neck of the woods.

A nearby 'bog' held huge numbers of Wilson's Snipe and also a Black-crowned Night Heron colony.   Herons are indeed a feature here - Great Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret and Great Egret are easy, and Tricolored Heron is possible.  White-faced Ibis is regular, and I've even had Roseate Spoonbill here.

Presa Paso de Tablas

Presa Paso de Tablas is located a few miles North-east of Tequisquiapan and can hold some interesting birds, particularly when after February/March when Presa Centenario gets drained and the wintering ducks need to relocate.

Throughout the winter, though, it holds reasonable numbers of ducks and waders, with the main duck species being Northern Shovelers, Pintails and Ruddy Duck, and the main waders being Spotted Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts and Least Sandpipers.  

Xander's visit brought him in close contact with this Spotted Sandpiper and Ruddy Duck.

The surrounding scrub and woodland at Paso de Tablas is undisturbed, and can also hold some decent species.  Ladderback (below) and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers are fairly common, as are other typical  desert birds (Cactus Wren, Canyon Towhee, Phainopepla, Northern Mockingbird (below)).

 In the woods here, I've had birds which are rare in the rest of Tequisquiapan, such as Great Horned Owl, Black-throated Grey Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and Hermit Thrush.

It's a wild and scary place at times, where fighting bulls are reared, wild dogs roam freely and corpses of dead cows litter the shoreline.  If you're brave, though, there are plenty of rewards to be had!

Tequisquiapan birds

Big brother Xander (www.northfrancebirder.com, www.alexanderhiley.com) had a trip over to Mexico a few weeks ago and we did a great bit of birding.

During his stay, we visited all the top sites in Lower Queretaro (Presa Centenario, Constitucion, La Llave etc), as well as doing a roadtrip down to Jalisco state and Puerto Vallarta.  Over the next few days, I'll post a series of reports detailing some of the birds we saw and pictures we took.

First off is a selection of birds that he photographed in and around my garden at Los Sabinos and the town of Tequisquiapan..

Verdin

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Cactus Wren

Inca Dove

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Surveying the Presa

I spent Wednesday morning counting waders at Presa Centenario as part of DUMAC's national project on shorebirds.  Autumn is by far the best time of year for waders at Centenario, when lots of passage birds stop off on their way south.  However, winter can still throw up some decent birds.

I recorded:

Black-necked Stilts 43

American Avocet 1

Greater Yellowlegs 2

Killdeer 37

Long-billed Dowitcher 4

Western Sandpiper 2

Spotted Sandpiper 14

Least Sandpiper 217

Other highlights around the Presa were cracking views of a hunting Northern Harrier and Crested Caracara, still big numbers of Northern Shoveler, Mexican Duck, Northern Pintail, Ruddy Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal and Eared Grebe.  1 American White Pelican floated over without settling, and there were a few Black-crowned Night Herons.  In the scrub were Northern Mockingbird, Blue Grosbeaks, Cactus Wrens, Curve-billed Thrashers, Loggerhead Shrikes, Canyon Towhees, lots of Lark Sparrows and a good Black-chinned Sparrow.

Meanwhile back in the garden, the Hummingbirds continue to visit the feeder..

Broad-billed Hummingbird

 A few other birds, such as this House Wren, have sniffed around.

House Wren

Forster Care

A very brief trip to the Presa on Thursay evening came up trumps in the form of this fine Forster's Tern near the dam.  Some brief scans of the water revealed massive flocks of Shoveler, Ruddy Duck and Eared Grebe and smaller numbers of Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal and Ring-necked Duck.  There remains water, but it is currently being drained.  

  

Forster's Tern, Presa Centenario

At the feeding station.

I've set up a little feeding station outside of my front window.  The first to take advantage of it have been the Hummingbirds.  Both of Tequis's species (Violet-crowned and Broad-billed) are regular visitors, popping down for a drink of nectar from the feeder.  

Not much interest from other species as yet, though I did just have an Orange-crowned Warbler sniffing around.  

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird