Veracruz 2010: Chavarrillo & Swift Roost

Today, Oct 3rd, we visited Chavarrillo, a small town close to Xalapa and a bit lower in elevation. We were only a short distance from our cloud forest hike yesterday, but the drier climate, vegetation and birds were very different.

A male and female Barred Antshrike (above) put on quite a show in the morning’s bird activity. Shortly thereafter Rufous-browed Peppershrike was seen close by. Other birds seen included Rufous-capped Warbler, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, and Band-backed Wren.

We continued our hike along the trails and railroad tracks (above), with the occasional town member and their well-behaved dogs tagging along. We added Gartered Trogon (Trogon caligatus), a new split, formerly known as Violaceous Trogon, now the South American species.

We had another bird of taxonomic interest, the “Veracruz” (Rufous-naped) Wren (above), and with a bit of work, the very timid White-bellied Wren, which we all saw well. Yellow-billed Cacique was frequently calling, but here they are very shy, and were not to be seen. We also had great looks at Masked Tityra, Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-headed Saltator, a tiny female Canivet’s Emerald to contrast with the male seen the other day at Rio Escondido, and a stunning Altamira Oriole (below) posing for us to enjoy.

After a short rest in the town of Cardel, followed by a bit of hawk watching at Chichicaxtle, we left for our next exciting new site, a White-collared Swift roost site, where we have seen thousands fly in to spend the night behind a lovely waterfall. The hike in was non-eventful, but the flood damage in this normally small creek was impressive.

When we arrived at the falls (above), a bit early, we settled in for the swift’s arrival. At first, no swifts. We worried that perhaps due to the flooding, they were not going to arrive in big numbers as usual. But, no worries, as Peter and Micha often say, they soon arrived, little-by-little, and then began to stream in by the hundreds at sunset.

They would arrive and swirl around (above) above the falls for a few minutes, the early arrivals spending more time before making the plunge. Soon, they came in at very high speeds, in large groups, diving down from a height of perhaps 50-100 meters. At the last second, they banked hard and dove behind the falls into their impossibly small cracks in the rocks. It was hard to believe that so many swifts could fit in such a small place behind the falls. It was a spectacular show.

We hiked out just before dark, tired with the late night hour, but agreeing it was well worth it!