Los Azufres National Park

Years ago my husband and I drove through the mountainous pine forests a bit west of the Monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Although my Mexican friends told me about this geothermal park, nothing was written in any of the guide books at that time. Our curiosity prompted us to explore...and so we did. Los Azufres was lovely, especially sitting in a steaming hotspring for several hours, and I've been wanting to return ever since.

Thanks to a prompting by Mike Judd, three of us left Patzcuaro early September 17. We drove through Morelia's morning traffic snarl, took the autopista east and exited at the Los Azufres sign. We made a few stops (in the town of Jerahuaro) before climbing into the mountains. The woods were eerily silent, and we weren't able to coax a single trogon in. Nor anything else.

Near the crest and just before a CFE power plant, we managed to find La Gachupina, a presa (dam) that is also an ecological park. We spent most of our time combing this area.

The most amazing bird of the day, as least for me, was a very vocal Green violet-ear. It was territorial and vocalized non-stop. Amazing views, and I kept thinking "Too bad Bob from Boise isn't here with his camera."

We also studied a woodpecker for quite awhile. It's bill was very small, like a Downy's. According to Howell and Webb, Downy's are not a Mexican species. Unfortunately, by the time we retrieved our cameras, we were not able to relocate the bird to photograph it. Thus, we reluctantly listed it as a Hairy.

Hearing the rumblings of our bellies, we sought lunch at Adelita's. The meal was good, another eating establishment to remember for future trips.

Rather than turn back to the Autopista, we decided to make a loop by driving towards Ciudad Hidalgo and then through Mil Cumbres on Hwy 15. Of course, we stopped at El Fresno's El Clarin restuarant just in case there were any swifts in the area. We got lucky: White-throated swifts swirled above. Plus, we enjoyed cold beverages and botanas.

The loop from Patzcuaro to Los Azufres and continuing through Mil Cumbres and back to Patzcuaro is an nice day trip.

Birds seen/heard in order of appearance:

Western meadowlark (singing as we exited the autopista)

Rusty sparrow

Hepatic tanager

House sparrow

Common raven

Barn swallow

Wilson's warbler

Northern rough-winged swallow

Chipping sparrow

Canyon towhee

Black-headed grosbeak

Towhee species
Eastern bluebird

Yellow-eyed junco

Cassin's kingbird

Yellow-rumped warbler

Western sandpipers (11 of them)

Spotted sandpiper

House finch

Cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer

Green violet-ear

Allen's - Rufous hummingbird

Red warbler

Olive warbler

Brown creeper

Black-throated gray warbler

Hepatic tanager

Common raven

Hairy woodpecker (with a very small bill....very similar to a Downy's bill)

Empid flycatcher (pine?)

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Russet or Ruddy-capped nightingale-thrush (didn't fly/didn't see the underwings, no vocals)

Northern pygmy-owl

White-throated swift

Brood parasitism with Groove-billed ani

The juvenile ani just after being fed by a Banded wren

It's true. The more time I spend in the field, the more I see and learn.

In late August, Mike Judd twisted my arm ever so gently to take his wife Cheri and two visiting birders to some of my favorite spots. The visitors turned out to be the executive committee of the Transylvania County Bird Club (Brevard, North Carolina) - Michele and Marvin Barg.

Mike, Marvin, Michele and Cheri


Company of the non-bird type at La Estacion

While birding Rio Corucha, just south of Tacambaro, on August 24, we saw a Banded wren slinking along the side of the road. Even though h/she wove in and out of the brush, we had good looks at the bird. Calling nearby was a large, blackish juvenile bird: a baby Groove-billed ani. Imagine my shock when the wren deposited food into the mouth of the ani. It was one of those moments when my mind kept reviewing all the field marks of both birds and I couldn't stop the words coming from my mouth...."Look at that wren. What the heck is that baby? Oh my, there it goes feeding that monster. Did you guys see that?" Mike says it was more fun watching me get excited than seeing the birds....but what can you expect from a social worker and herp lover.

In my life, I have seen plenty of Brown-headed cowbirds being fed by much smaller birds - one time even by a Bushtit! This observation equally shocked me and remains vivid in my memory. It was definitely a puzzling WOW experience.

Later that night I read through all of my books, searched the Web and sent notes to mentors (for example, Dr. Dennis Paulson in Seattle, Dr. Fernando Villasenor Gomez in Morelia, Rene Sada and Adrian Ganem Sada in Monterrey) and posted a notice on Mexico-birding@yahoogroups.com. Tim Brush, University of Texas - Pan American, responded to the post saying he agreed with Dr. Paulson that this was an unusual sighting. All of my sources said there was no evidence of brood parasitism with Groove-billed anis, and I should report it.

So, this blog entry is one of many reports I will be making.

Cold beverages at Arroyo Frio

Marvin and I

Birds seen over two days and in numerous spots:

Great egret

Little blue heron

Snowy egret

Cattle egret

White-faced ibis

Black vulture

Turkey vulture

Common moorhen

Northern jacana

Inca dove

Squirrel cuckoo

Groove-bill ani

An adult Groove-billed ani

Northern pygmy-owl

Black or White-naped swift (no vocalization!)

Golden-crowned emerald

White-eared hummingbird

Violet-crowned hummingbird

Berylline hummingbird

Mountain trogon (3)

Green kingfisher
Russet-crowned motmot -

One day I hope to buy a decent camera!

Acorn woodpecker

Golden-cheeked woodpecker

Northern flicker

Northern beardless-tyrannulet

Tufted flycatcher

Greater pewee

Black phoebe

Vermilion flycatcher

Great kiskadee

Social flycatcher

Cassin's kingbird

Violet-green swallow

Barn swallow

Spotted wren

Canyon wren

Happy wren

Banded wren

Blue mockingbird

White-throated thrush

Mexican chickadee

White-breasted nuthatch

Brown creeper

Mexican jay

Common raven

House sparrow

House finch

Black-headed siskin

Lesser goldfinch

Olive warbler

Hermit warbler

Red warbler

Slate-throated redstart

Rufous-capped warbler

Hepatic tanager

Blue-black grassquit

White-collared seedeater

Rufous-capped brush-finch

Rusty-crowned ground-sparrow

Hybrid towhee (Collared x Spotted)
Canyon towhee

Black-chested sparrow

Stripe-headed sparrow

Rusty sparrow

Chipping sparrow

Yellow-eyed junco

Black-headed grosbeak

Blue grosbeak

Great-tailed grackle

Streak-backed oriole

Yellow-winged cacique