El Estribo - Friday, August 8, 2008

We were rained out the last time the Patzcuaro Birding Club tried to climb El Estribo, the highest vantage point with easy access near Patzcuaro. This time, Molly Diana and I, along with three doggies (Gypsy, Zira and Kiki), had a gloriously sunny day.
The following photos show the view from El Estribo from the east to the west.

It was a rufous or red kind of day. The majority of plants, mushrooms, and birds were colored the same. At the end, you'll find a list of birds seen during the hike. Many have rufous in their names.....

Can you identify this reddish plant?

We're on the downhill side of the hike, thank goodness!

As we headed up the hill, we encountered some mushroom or hongo hunters. Note the red-colored ones. The others are "amarillos".

Look closely and you'll find hongos among other goodies at the mercado in Patzcuaro.

Molly and I couldn't resist the temptation. At the end of our hike, we visited the mercado and bought some mushrooms for that evening's meal. I stir-fried mushroooms with chichen, broccoli, carrots, onions and peppers. Yummy, yummy. The following morning, I used the remainder of the mushrooms with scrambled eggs. Again, the meal was scrumptious.

Oh, I almost forgot about the birds. Here's what we encountered along the hike (not in taxonomic order):

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Canyon towhee

House sparrow

Canyon wren (heard)

Magnificent hummingbird

Black vulture (10 in a kettle)

Turkey vulture

Barn swallow

Bewick's wren

Sharp-shinned hawk

Lesser goldfinch

Orange-billed nightingale-thrush

Slate-throated redstart

Berylline hummingbird

Gray hawk

Acorn woodpecker

Rufous-sided towhee

Rufous-crowned brush-finch

Rufous-capped warbler

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Rufous-crowned sparrow

Yellow-eyed junco

Inca dove

House finch

Vermilion flycatcher