Our little merry band of birders, whose recent formation I still find surprising, has been quite active of late. This week, one of the regulars asked to go to our new site of Copuyo, right next to my longtime site of Paso Ancho in Michoacán’s Tierra Caliente (Hot Country). The request was made by my tocayo Pablo (a tocayo is anyone with whom one shares a name). The group sometimes calls him Pablo Juvenil (Young Pablo), to distinguish him from Old Pablo. That would be me.
I’m glad we said yes, because it turned out that our outing was precisely on Young Pablo’s birthday. He only had two birthday wishes. One was to go birding on his birthday. We could do that, no problem. The second was to see a Black-capped Vireo, an endangered bird that recently turned up in Copuyo. Would we find it there?
Photo of the Black-capped Vireo “borrowed” from Google Images
The Black-capped Vireo is a now-rare bird that has been severely affected by habitat destruction and brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbird in its nesting area, which is centered around the rapidly-developing area of west-central Texas. It winters on the coastal areas of southwestern Mexico. I had never seen this species, although it presumably must travel through our general region to get from its nesting area to its wintering grounds. My friend Jonathan spotted it in Copuyo in late October, but when we went back there in December, we failed to find it. And I failed again on my own in late January. So I will confess that I didn’t have my hopes up.
It took us a while to get to the town of Copuyo because birds kept getting in the way. As they so often do. It was a great day for Russet-crowned Motmots, which are always worth a stop.
Lupita, another member of our group. was eager to get better views of the area’s abundant Yellow-winged Caciques, and some of these happened to be sporting the wild crown feathers they develop in the breeding season.
We saw several endemic Dusky Hummingbirds over the course of the day. But since Dusky Hummingbirds are mostly distinguished by their lack of color, we were more excited to see many Plain-capped Starthroats, which sport some of the longest bills among Mexican hummers.
One of the region’s endemic but abundant Golden-cheeked Woodpeckers really wanted to show off its male finery. You could even see a hint of that almost-never-seen golden cheek!
Colorful wintering Western Tanagers could be seen feasting on the sweet pulp of the Guamúchil trees’ pods.
And some Groove-billed Anis were looking particularly dinosaurian.
Since I had not yet seen a Black-capped Vireo, I chose to take the route to the spot where Jonathan and I had found a pair of elusive Colima Pygmy-Owls, and try our luck there. Unfortunately, it turns out that one steep unpaved section may be drivable when I am alone, but was not so with four of us in the car. And as I tried to back down the road, I managed to put the left two tires in a ditch. Young Pablo and his girlfriend had to walk back towards town to find someone who would tow my car out. And they found them. Don’t let anyone convince you that rural Mexico is always a scary place.
Once the car was again firmly on the road, I was able to park it and we continued on foot. By this time of day, we did not have to wonder why this region is called the Hot Country. But we soldiered on to the Pygmy-Owl spot, only to find no owls. But suddenly…
There was a pair of Black-capped Vireos! Now, these apparently are birds that seriously love staying deep in brush. There is a reason I had to use an online photo to show you one. And my one good sighting lasted for perhaps a second. But it was clear and deeply satisfying, a lifer for all of us. It’s a good thing that black cap is unmistakeable!
On the way back, we stumbled across a pair of White-throated Magpie-Jays. These spectacular birds are common by the coast, but this was only my second sighting of them in the Paso Ancho/Copuyo area. If they look long, that is because they are can reach a length of 56 cm/22 inches.
Relatively close, but hiding.
Relatively visible, but farther away.
We all went home quite satisfied. Especially Young Pablo, who got both of his birthday wishes.
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