Parque Nacional Huatulco protects roughly 12,000 hectares of dry coastal forest/desert scrub, mangroves, and coral reefs along the south coast of Mexico. It is famous among muggles due to its beautiful and secluded beaches, but among birders, the park is well known for a number of localized species. None of these birds are restricted in range to the immediate surroundings of PN Huatulco. But some are only found along the coastal strip in southern Mexico, while others range a little further afield along the coast, west to Sinaloa State.
My target list was relatively short and sweet, having already snagged Citreoline Trogon at Parque Botánico Hagia Sofia, and Yellow-winged Cacique in the town of La Crucecita (where we were staying). Remaining targets included Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Colima Pygmy-Owl, Flammulated Flycatcher, Red-breasted Chat and Orange-breasted Bunting. I also "needed" Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, Northern Potoo and Olive Sparrow; widespread species that I just haven't encountered before. Among the above, the Orange-breasted Bunting and Red-breasted Chat were highly coveted species for Laura and I due to their beauty. The Colima Pygmy Owl was also high on our Most Wanted list, because, well, it is an owl. And finally, we hoped to find some Russet-crowned Motmots, a species that Laura had never seen before. She is a big fan of motmots (who among us is not?).
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| Citreoline Trogon - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
November 20, 2021
I hope Laura had enjoyed her sleep-in the previous day, because today we were back to work. The only saving grace was that sunrise occurs around 6:30 AM here due to our latitude. Even so, I did not want to miss the best birding hours of the morning and so we parked our vehicle at the chosen birding spot around 6:00 AM.
Our destination was the end of a paved access road along the east side of PN Huatulco (location is at 15.7319036, -96.1597252). Right away our first birds of the day made their presence known by voice: Collared Forest-Falcon, West Mexican Chachalaca, Nutting's Flycatcher, Rufous-naped Wren.
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| Rufous-naped Wren - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The first two target species to make their way onto my eBird checklist were both heard-only, unfortunately. The first was a Colima Pygmy-Owl, while just a little further down the road I locked onto a Flammulated Flycatcher. Despite them being relatively close to the road, I was unable to obtain a visual on either. We pressed on, walking eastwards along the quiet road. Even on a weekend, at an early hour we had the place to ourselves.
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| Entrance road to Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Laura came through with a motmot, just off of the road: a Russet-crowned!
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| Russet-crowned Motmot - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
I kept an ear open for flyover parrots, hoping for a Lilac-crowned. Due to collection for the pet trade coupled with habitat loss, the Lilac-crowned Parrot is classified as Endangered. This is a species for which eBird has obscured the records, to make it more difficult for the poachers. Therefore, I was going in blind with this species (just like the old days!). All of the parrots that flew overhead were of the more expected species, White-fronted. I had to really overexpose the images to confirm an identification, otherwise they all looked like black-headed black parrots.
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| White-fronted Parrot - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The sun slowly crested over the hills behind us and the bird activity increased. Things were a bit frantic as we went from one species to the next. Several Turquoise-crowned Hummingbirds buzzed us. The looks were poor but their calls were distinctive. Finally, a female obliged by perching in a roadside shrub.
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| Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Frenzied bird activity by a fruiting tree stopped us in our tracks for fifteen minutes. Citreoline Trogons, White-throated Magpie-Jays, Rufous-backed Robins, Altamira and Streak-backed Orioles, Yellow-winged Caciques and a Masked Tityra all took part and provided incredible views.
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| White-throated Magpie-Jay - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Yellow-winged Cacique - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Rufous-backed Robin - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Masked Tityra - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
By this time, the coolness had long-since abandoned the air and so we did our best to stick to the shadows. Some chip notes in the undergrowth alerted us to a pair of Olive Sparrows. They nearly succeeded in evading my camera lens. All I managed were a few blurry photos that barely count as record shots.
The heat of the morning sent numerous lizards out of the woodwork. Dry forests like these are perfect for these scamperers, and every step off into the forest sends numerous individuals scurrying. I often wonder what the density of lizards per hectare is in places like this! Surely, this number contains at least four, perhaps even five digits at PN Huatulco.
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| Mexican Racerunner (Aspidoscelis guttatus) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We turned around after reaching the first roundabout and retraced our steps along the road. Our peripheral vision picked up a bunting-sized flash of electric blue cross the road. Could it be?
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| Orange-breasted Bunting - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
A male Orange-breasted Bunting! The colours were almost unbelievable, but there it was, right in front of us. I never managed the five-star photos I craved, though the views were incredible.
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| Orange-breasted Bunting - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
After a few minutes it popped out of the shadows onto a sunlit branch. Then, just like that, it flashed back across the road and disappeared into a shady thicket. We were stoked! This species is supposed to be relatively common in this park, and we would go on to see several others, but the first was unforgettable.
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| Orange-breasted Bunting - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Not five minutes later, another target appeared. While not the hoped for male, the female Red-breasted Chat is not bad looking at all. She also sat out in the open for us, flashing her tail.
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| Red-breasted Chat - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Red-breasted Chat - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The day was really cooking now and bird activity was slowing. I paused near the vehicle to crack off a couple photos of a female Pale-billed Woodpecker that was working some dead snags, while we also stopped so Laura could see her first ever Bell's Vireo.
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| Pale-billed Woodpecker - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Several other lizards were waiting for us by the vehicle.
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| Western Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Longtail Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus siniferus) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Laura and I continued down a sandy track into the national park, trying (and failing) to find an access trail to a large wetland located somewhere to the south.
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| Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We explored the dry forest for an hour or so longer. We finally managed to see some Happy Wrens, a bird which we had heard on numerous occasions earlier in the trip. Unfortunately, I wasn't so...um....happy with how my photos turned out.
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| Happy Wren - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Laura and I returned to the vehicle shortly after 10 AM. If I was on a short birding trip I would have pushed to stay out for several more hours - birds can be found during the heat of the day, it just gets trickier. But since we are hoping to travel for quite a while, I am ok with taking it easy and picking our moments to go all out. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
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| Cinnamon Hummingbird - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We chilled for the hottest part of the day and returned to the same spot shortly after 4 PM. We planned to hike through the dry forest to a secluded beach, swim and watch the sunset, and then walk back in the dark, trying for owls, potoos, snakes, and whatever else.
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| Short-tailed Hawk - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The afternoon birding was much slower than the morning's visit, but we added a few things, including the Short-tailed Hawk pictured above and some Orange-fronted Parakeets pictured below.
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| Orange-fronted Parakeet - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We noted a new lizard as well, the Tropical Tree Lizard (Urosaurus bicarinatus).
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| Tropical Tree Lizard (Urosaurus bicarinatus) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The beach was absolutely stunning. Located in a cove, white-sand stretched out in front of us for quite a distance. A cactus-studded island was situated not far offshore. I optimistically kept an eye out for distant seabirds; pelicans and frigatebirds were all I could find, as expected. But the view was magical and, best of all, we only had to share the beach with five other individuals.
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| Bahia de Cacaluta - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
As the sun set we watched several unidentified rays leaping high into the air, possibly in an attempt to rid themselves of parasites clinging to their bodies.
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| Bahia de Cacaluta - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We trawled for owls and potoos on the way back but it was not to be, the exception being a single pygmy owl that teased us with its vocalizations. We saw a dark shadow whiz past; the owl resumed calling from much further away.
Laura spotted a group of West Mexican Chachalacas, hilariously roosting together on a branch.
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| West Mexican Chachalacas - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
The rest of our night hike was relatively uneventful with no herps or other birds to speak of. We even spotlighted for potoos on the drive back into town, to no avail. Can't get them all...
Out AirBnB hosts recommended a local taquería to us, located just down the road. We were pretty glad they suggested this spot! All of the food pictured below cost around 10 Canadian dollars. It included four types of grilled meat as well as grilled onions, cactus and jalapeño peppers, fresh limes, various salsas, a stack of 22 tortillas, and drinks. We had leftovers for lunch the next day as well. Pretty incredible!
November 21, 2021
We awoke at the same early hour. Due to increased efficiency with our morning routine we arrived at our birding site, a quiet forest trail, while it was still quite dark out. I made the judgement call to return to the road from yesterday until we had better visibility. The more open roadway would at least give us some light to work with. I hoped that maybe I would get lucky with a flyover Lilac-crowned Parrot as well.
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| West Mexican Chachalaca - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We noted mostly the same birds from yesterday's visits including the Colima Pygmy-Owl and Flammulated Flycatcher. Once again, we struck out on obtaining a visual of either! And the only parrots that flew over were the White-fronted again. It was worth a shot at least.
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| Brown-crested Flycatcher - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
After an hour or so we returned to our original site. Called Sendero Cruz del Monte, this quiet track is located a bit more inland and also heads west into PN Huatulco.
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| Sendero Cruz del Monte - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
While we had found a female Red-breasted Chat yesterday, we still hoped to see one of the males. And we were in luck. We passed the territories of at least three individuals, one who posed nicely for photos.
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| Red-breasted Chat - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
Olive Sparrows seem to be common along this path as well, and their chips and twitters were frequently heard from the undergrowth. Finally, one popped out in the open for a while, proving excellent views of its...oliveness.
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| Olive Sparrow - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Olive Sparrow - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
I have mentioned on this blog before how Laura has a fantastic eye for spotting birds at rest, especially cryptic ones that are easy to pass by. I confess that I am not very good at this, I need to see the movement most of the time. Once again, Laura came through. This time, it was a Colima Pygmy-Owl!
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| Colima Pygmy-Owl - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We were thrilled. The bird was off the trail and obscured by branches but somehow Laura picked up on the subtle shape of the roosting owl. I'm going to keep her around, I think!
Two species of pygmy-owls inhabit this region. The widespread Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is found in towns, parks, and other open areas while the Colima Owl is tied to dry scrub forest. They sound very similar, though with slight differences, and the best way to identify them is visually. Among other features, the Colima Pygmy-Owl has white dots on the crown, while the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl has streaks there.
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| Colima Pygmy-Owl - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
We concluded our walk without any more avian surprises. I held out hope for a last minute flyover Lilac-crowned Parrot to no avail. I guess I will have to wait for a west Mexico trip to finally see that species.
The walk back to the car was hot and the bird life had slowed. We entertained ourselves by looking for insects and lizards.
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| Calephelis sp. - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Longtail Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus siniferus) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| Pink-spotted Cattleheart (Parides photinus) - Parque Nacional Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico |
And with that, our time in Parque Nacional Huatulco had come to a close. We pointed our vehicle east, heading for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where a rare and incredibly beautiful bunting awaited us. The Isthmus will be the subject of my next post.
