VERACRUZ 2014: Day 1- Fab First Day
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Oct 3, 2014 | by Adrian Binns
Day 1 / Oct 2 – Playa Chalchihuecan; Cardel; Chichicaxtle; Rio Escondido
Raptor watching at Chichicaxtle
Gorgeous weather and a steady show of raptors highlighted our first day in Veracruz, on our annual River of Raptors tour in Mexico. We started early with delicious breakfast buffet and coffee, then headed towards the rising sun at Playa Chalcihueacan.
Veracruz Rufous-naped Wren
Amid coastal scrub and sand beach habitat, we admired resident birds such as the local race of Rufous-naped Wren, along with an amazing show of kestrels and accipiters, providing good study of Cooper’s versus Sharp-shinned Hawks. A local Roadside Hawk and Great Black Hawk were quite confiding.
Peregrine Falcon
Our lunch in Cardel was perfectly timed to see close to 30,000 Broad-winged Hawks in the noon hour, all streaming over the roof of the hotel. We picked out a Zone-tailed Hawk and watched the resident Peregrine Falcon harassing pigeons over the town.
Canivet’s Emerald
After a short, fairly slow visit to the inland hawk watching location at Chichicaxtle, we spent most of the late afternoon birding in Rio Escondido, enjoying stellar looks at a Squirrel Cuckoo, Canivet’s Emerald, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and other species.
– Robert Straub