Best birds of Oaxaca

Where do I start, what do I include? I hadn’t been to Mexico since 1996. I was so excited to be back where days included great birds and natural history, excellent food and mezcal! Also birding with old friends and new friends. It couldn’t have been better. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

Let’s start with my favorite butterfly photo of the trip – Anna’s eighty-eight. A stunning little critter.

Hummingbirds were everywhere. Berylline Hummingbird on the left. Blue-throated Mountain-Gem on the right.

Not a rare bird, nor one that I haven’t photographed in the US, even in Michigan. But it is a nice photo. This is a Blue Grosbeak.

Boucard’s Wren, one of the largest wrens that we saw in Oaxaca.

Bridled Sparrow, common, but still a little stunner.

Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo. Not a great photo of a canopy species that was high overhead. It wasn’t new for me, but my one my favorite species of the trip.

Colima Pygmy-Owl on the left, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl on the right. Any day with a pygmy-owl is a good day.

Collared Towhee.

Emerald Toucanet. Another of my many favorites from Oaxaca.

After finding Golden-fronted Woodpeckers I patiently followed this one to a nest.

Lesser Roadrunner on the left and Lesser Ground-Cuckoo on the right. Two wonderful birds caught in the act of singing.

A pair of Russet-crowned Motmots. The male is on the left.

So many fun birds on the pelagic that we took. These are just two. Nazca Booby on the left. Red-billed Tropicbird on the right.

Oaxaca Sparrow, a regional endemic.

Pacific Parakeets.

Red Warbler, perhaps my favorite photo from the trip.

Red-headed Tanager

Rusty Sparrow

Slate-throated Redstart

Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird on the left. White-eared Hummingbird on the right.

White-tailed Kite.

White-throated Magpie-Jay. A large bird. Perhaps the largest corvid that we saw.

White-throated Jay. This was another regional endemic. It was difficult to photograph as a small flock skulked through the forest.

More later…