VERACRUZ 2010: The Highlands Pt. 2

Since we were having such a good time in the Xalapa area, we decided to spend another day here enjoying the birds, the town, and the cooler weather.

On a beautiful sunny morning we met our transport and guides in the town of El Zapotal, to embark upon our outing to the Pixquiac River watershed, above Xalapa. We were to hike through mature cloud forest at about 2100 meters, ending at a lovely waterfall. A small community there has a budding tourism program that we were glad to support, and we were hoping to see several new birds that are not common at lower elevations.

Very quickly we had a singing Brown-backed Solitaire with nice looks in our scope, a favorite bird for the day. As we reached the forest, Mountain Trogon called and then appeared. The first trogon ever for Peter and Micha! Several other nice birds including Bumblebee Hummingbird, Tufted Flycatcher, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, many warblers, Common Bush-Tanager, and great looks at a group of Elegant Euphonias feeding on their favorite Mistletoe. We later heard Emerald Toucanet, but were not able to see them (until later in the trip).

I “fished” for a specialty bird or two in the area, and eventually a Bearded Wood-Partridge called only a few meters away! Very exciting. We quietly waited to see if the bird would appear, but it did not. We crept closer until only a few feet away, but the bird was not to be seen. As Peter and Micha led us even closer, the bird flushed rapidly, and alas, they only got a fleeting glimpse of the rear end of one of the most difficult endemic birds to see in Mexico.

Our walk led us to the spectacular Capote Falls (above), named after the huge-leaved plant found there. On our return hike we stopped in the sun and had great looks at swifts for comparison: White-collared, Vaux’s, and Chestnut-collared.

Back in town, we went to our guide’s house for a wonderful lunch of potato soup, local cheese, and a salad of freshly-picked watercress. We completed our day with a quick stop at the reserve of the Ecology Institute for a scouted Mottled Owl, but he was not at home. However, we did see several beautiful birds, such as Yellow-throated Euphonias, and Baltimore Orioles, among others in a nice flock.