Author Archives: makielb

After leaving Monte Alban he headed east to Tehuantepec. We found a lot of birds on the way. This is a Great Kiskadee We made a few stops along the way to see special birds. These are Cinnamon-tailed (Sumichrast’s) Sparrow. One of the highlights was finding Ferruginous Pygmy Owls. We also had quite a fewContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-4 the drive to Tehuantepec”

Our day started heading from the city of Oaxaca to the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban. We spent over an hour searching for birds along the road leading to the ruins before the ruins were open. Here are a few that we found. Black-vented Oriole (left), Rufous-capped Warbler (center) and Blue Mockingbird (right). These ruinsContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-4, Monte Alban”

I was amazed at the number of epiphytic cacti that occurred here. This is Apocactus martianus. Among the many epiphytic plants there were non-flowering orchids (left, Epiphyllem phyllanthus) and flowering bromeliads (right, Tillandsia prodigiosa). I found the flowering bromeliads both highly attractive, but also highly varied. This is Tillandsia vioilacea. Flowering plants were also surprisinglyContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-3, Benito Juarez forest”

We had lunch in the town of Santa Maria de Tule. I really liked the mural of Frida Kahlo. Here’s the kitchen when the food was prepared over wood stoves. Then we headed off to see the biggest tree in Mexico. Here is the Montezuma cyprus that has the largest diameter (11.2 m; 37.5 ft)Continue reading “Oaxaca, day-3, lunch and a big tree”

Once again our day started early as we headed up into the mountains. Heading out for the days sightings. One of the great joys of birding in Mexico is being able to see a lot of cacti. This is a velvet bur cactus. A western rhinoceros beetle. One of the larger beetles that we foundContinue reading “Oaxaca, Day-3, Rancho Aranjuz”

After lunch on day-2 we headed into the mountains – for a really exciting day! The trail was along a valley that had cattle and horses. The Mike’s looking up hill for birds. Well, at. least until a horse came trotting by. The horse passed us, totally ignoring us and headed down a trail toContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-2 LaCumbre”

My brother Mark and I went to the celebration of Auntie Carmela turning 100. What a wonderful gathering of family. My Italian family have known the Marino and Del Duca families since the 1600s! They all came from the town of Peschici, Italy. Camela arrive in 1953 with her children Vince and Teresa. Here weContinue reading “A 100th birthday celebration and more”

Having lunch at a restaurant in the mountains named Colibri seemed exciting – which it was. The view from the road might not seem very exciting, but it was deceptive. As soon as we were out of the van we were alreading seeing Mountain-gems. Our table for lunch with the openings facing the forest linedContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-2, Colibre lunch”

Here we are exiting the van on a mountain road in Ixtapeji. I found the high altitude (10,000+ feet) natural history to be the most interesting. I was especially excited to see the tremendous variety of lichens. Yes, I am still working on identifying them. Eric was always on the look out or listening forContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-2, Ixtapeji”

Around lunch on our first day in Oaxaca we visited a weaving shop in Teotitlan. What a wondrful experience. This is one of the weavers who told us about every aspect of the shop from getting the wool from sheep, the different colors of sheep’s wool, cleaning the wool, spinning the wool and coloring theContinue reading “Oaxaca, day-1, Teotitlan weavers”