Desierto de los Leones Recreational Park, Mexico City
24 March 2007

>Mexico City is located near the southern end of the plateau of Anáhuac, at an altitude of c.7,800 ft (2,380 m). The horizons of the city are almost obscured by mountain barriers, and the peaks of Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl are not far off. The climate is cool and dry. Much of Mexico City’s surrounding valley is a lake basin with no outlet, and in the past during the rainy seasons, mountain runoff swelled the lakes.

In other words, try not to breathe in while you’re here…

An open area in Desierto de los Leones (March 2005)

Almost two years ago to the day I visited Mexico City’s Desierto de Los Leones for the first time and went all over-the-top in announcing my head-over-heels love affair with a Mexican beauty - the stunning and utterly gorgeous Red Warbler (calm down, my friends - my heart belongs to Jo, though I have to admit I came pretty close to losing my head in the hills above Mexico City that hot March afternoon)…

Hmmm. Where was I? Oh yes, my first trip back to Mexico for two years, and I couldn’t resist trying for the City’s ‘Big 5′ again, ‘the quintet of warblers no birder can resist’, (and apologies to any male warblers who may be reading this) ‘the luscious lovelies of Los Leones’ - Red Warbler, Olive Warbler, Crescent-chested Warbler, Golden-browed Warbler, and Slate-throated Redstart (though I must say that my 10,000 Birds colleague Mike might have a warbler of his own he’d want to nominate for ‘extraordinarily good-looking dendroica‘). So rather than try for something new somewhere else (where, I have no idea - any Mexican birders out there who’d like to help out please?), I made the winding and horribly bumpy trip up the road to the mixed pine/oak forest of Desierto de Los Leones again - a wonderfully ancient and peaceful habitat clinging onto the steep hills high above the ever-expanding and ever-encroaching Mexico City (as the photo below of the new suburb/ ‘city’ - in reality a very expensive looking business park - of Santa Fe shows).

The new ‘city’ of Santa Fe from Desierto de Los leones

 

That last ’steep’ and ‘high’, incidentally, might give anyone reading this an idea of just how physically difficult birding at Desierto is: perhaps - and I hate to admit this - I’m not as fit as I was two years ago, but Mexico City itself is at 2,380 M (7,800 ft) so unless you live in Lhasa or La Paz (or Leadville, Colorado, so I discover here) you’re probably going to find the bone-dry Desierto - which is at 3000m (9,800ft) - hard-going. (I mention this before I post any photos purely because, for those readers who occasionally think I’m far too lucky for my own good and should have tent-pegs driven through my feet to keep me from wandering around having fun, progress throughout the day was of the “four steps forward, pause for deep breath” sort, I woke up three times last night with painful cramp in my calfs, woke up this morning with my nasal passages so dehydrated they felt like they’d been concreted over, and am sitting here right now alert to several sharp reminders that though my mind still thinks I’m a young man my body knows full well that I’m not…)

Right, having cleared that up I don’t mind shouting it from the rooftops - I spent the whole day at Desierto and really did have an excellent time. As on my last visit I followed a track just inside the forest that went along the left side of the valley (from the abandoned building in the photo at the top of the page, which is about 800m up from the park entrance) above the road that runs round to the famous Carmelite convent (which, incidentally, I’ve still not got round to seeing).

Also just as last time I saw more birds in the lower mixed-woodland near the entrance than in the much quieter monotypic pine-forest higher up. Birds at altitude in such specialised habitats are never going to be present in such dense numbers as eg ducks on a wetland or shorebirds on an estuary of course, so for long periods I was walking around seeing very little but Ruby-crowned Kinglets (they’re Desierto’s most ubiquitous species it seems) and wondering what was giving all the little “spzzt”s and “fzzt”s and “zzzzppp”s I was hearing - but I did manage to find all five of the afore-mentioned warblers, plus North American breeding migrant dendroica including two each of Townsend’s and Hermit, three or four Orange-crowned, and good numbers of “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped (no Virginia’s this time).

As is usually the case in forest like this, the trick is to look out for bird parties, check everything that moves, and - if you’ve the strength to forcibly exhale the thin air from lungs that will almost certainly be desperate to hang on to it - ‘pish’ regularly. Red Warblers and Slate-throated Redstarts in particular seemed to respond to ‘pishing’ fairly often - though neither were particularly easy to photograph as these are birds that don’t seem to have ever heard of ‘keeping still’ (in fact, many of the birds here are either skulking or hyperactive (or skulking AND hyperactive) and don’t give especially good views). I certainly got a little more fortunate with the Crescent-chested Warbler in the photos below, which was singing its buzzy song in an oak on the slope below the road so that it was almost at eye-level at one point. (That may not seem more than a passing point to make, but it’s notable just how many of the birds here are canopy feeders or spend time - like the Solitaires or the one Greater Pewee I saw - perched high up on snags well out of the way of any passing birder who, unless they have wings or a helicopter, will probably never get good views of them!)

Red Warbler Ergaticus ruber

 

 

Crescent-chested Warbler Parula superciliosa

 

Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus

Other species I saw included good numbers of the charmingly fluffy-headed Grey Silky-flycatcher (including - unusually, considering I’ve always seen them bouncing high overhead giving their oddly parrot-like calls - several coming down to a fruiting shrub close to the ground), and two lifers: my first Grey-barred Wren (a Cactus Wren up here?, was my first thoughts on seeing a large stripey arboreal wren picking its way through the foliage of a hanging branch) and the only woodpecker I’ve seen on two visits - the endemic Strickland’s.

Given that a Strickland’s Woodpecker is just 7ins/18cm (about the same size as a Hermit Thrush), I’m ever so slightly curious to know what sort of a mood it has to be in to hammer a hole the size of the one above in a pine tree - or (more likely really) what other species of ‘pecker has so far avoided my ‘keen’ eyes?

More expected species your short-sighted correspondent did manage to find included good numbers of the gorgeous White-eared Hummingbird, one Magnificent Hummingbird, a couple of Red Crossbill (or were they? Given the state of flux of Loxia taxonomy I’m not certain what these birds may end up being called), three or four Brown-backed Solitaire (singing their descending, peculiarly mechanical and far-carrying song, which I wrote on my last visit as sounding like a tin bird falling downstairs and I’m not changing my description having heard them again), three perky Yellow-eyed Junco (hopping around the “open area” in the photo at the top of the page), and both of the two striking and satisfactorily exotic-looking (but VERY skulking) brush-finches found here - Green-striped and Chestnut-capped. (I also had very brief views of what may have been a Fan-tailed Warbler which responded to pishing, came in quickly and very low, and then went away quickly and very low as soon as it saw me - I wouldn’t try to claim it retrospectively but does anyone know if they occur here?)

Brown-backed Solitaire Myadestes occidentalis

 

Grey Silky-flycatcher Ptilogonys cinereus

 

Yellow-eyed Junco Junco phaeonotus

 

White-eared Hummingbird Hylocharis leucotis

So a very good day (and I added Curve-billed Thrasher, Canyon Towhee, Song Sparrow, and House Finch to the day list as I walked back down the hill through a village looking for a taxi* back to “Centro”), but I’m probably done with Desierto for a while: there are just so many good birds within reach of Mexico City that - much as I really like the place (and love its birds) - next time I get sent here I’m going to try getting somewhere else…

Day List:
White-eared Hummingbird Hylocharis leucotis 3-4; Magnificent Hummingbird Eugenes fulgens 1; Strickland’s Woodpecker Picoides stricklandi 1; Greater Pewee Contopus pertinax 1; Cordilleran Flycatcher Empidonax occidentalis 2; Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri diademata 6-8; Mexican Chickadee Parus sclateri 5-6; (Black-eared) Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus personatus 10+; Brown-backed SolitaireMyadestes occidentalis 3-4; Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa 4; Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula 20+; Grey-barred Wren Campylorhynchus megalopterus 1; Grey-breasted Wood-wren Henicorhina leucophrys 3-4; White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis 1; American Robin Turdus migratorius 3-4; Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra 2; Grey Silky-flycatcher Ptilogonys cinereus 20+; Crescent-chested Warbler Parula superciliosa 2; Orange-crowned Warbler Vermivora celata 3; “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata auduboni 10+; Townsend’s Warbler Dendroica townsendi 2; Hermit Warbler Dendroica occidentalis 2; Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus 6-8; Wilson’s Warbler Wilsonia pusilla 1; Golden-browed Warbler Basileuterus belli 2-3; Olive Warbler Peucedramus taeniatus 1; Red Warbler Ergaticus ruber 8-10; Pine Siskin Carduelis pinus c)10; Canyon Towhee Pipilo fuscus 1; Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus 4; Green-striped Brushfinch Atlapetes virenticeps c)10; Rufous-capped Brushfinch Aplopetes pileatus 3; Yellow-eyed Junco Junco phaeonotus 3. (Outside the Park: Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre 1; Canyon Towhee Pipilo fuscus 2; Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia 3; House Sparrow Passer domesticus +; House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus +)

*As on my last visit I went to Desierto de los Leones by taxi (one of the slightly tatty green and white Volkswagen Beetles that circle the streets), which I flagged down outside the hotel. Standard advice is to be careful when taking street taxis in Mexico. Always check that the driver has a clearly displayed identification licence and a working meter before getting in. Always make sure that the driver understands where you want to go before getting in. So far the drivers have all been very friendly, and though my Spanish is very limited I’ve not had any problems - other than today’s driver not knowing the exact route to the park (we still got there easily enough though - just keep following the signs to Desierto up the hill, and if the driver looks round sceptically as if to say, “Are you sure you want to do this?”, smile broadly and nod your head: works every time!).

Bear in mind that the only road up to the park is winding and steep, and around almost every bend is a spine-compressing “sleeping policeman” (a traffic control hump across the road) - it’s an uncomfortable journey that is probably longer than you’re expecting it to be, but never fear, it’s worth it when you finally get to the obvious park entrance.

Incidentally, I was charged 160 pesos (about 7.35 GBP/14 USD) each way (an increase from two years ago but still cheap - and the rise is probably more related to conversion rates than inflation which is actually quite low in Mexico). The official hotel taxi-service wanted 450 pesos for the same journey. A taxi connected to the hotel but not employed by them wanted about 300 pesos. Buses are very cheap indeed, but are slow and very basic, and unless you speak and understand Spanish well are probably best avoided. I didn’t book a return ride on either visit, as there are plenty of taxis in a village about a fifteen minute walk down the hill and it’s not difficult to get back into the City.