2007 Tour Narrative
Briefly Noted: When it comes to astonishing numbers and diversity of butterflies, Northeastern Mexico did not fail us this October. The birding was good, at times very good, but the butterflies were mostly overwhelming in a good way. Seeing Double-striped Thick-knees by the roadside in the same field as a Greater Roadrunner, Golden-browed Warblers at arm’s length, Tamaulipas Pygmy-Owls tooting in the cloud forest, and Singing Quail chorusing and posing for scope views were some of the more memorable sightings of birds. But already on the first day we had more than twice as many butterflies as birds, including an astounding 16 species of hairstreak, among them the highly sought-after Superb Cycadian and the diminutive and seldom-seen Schaus’s Hairstreak. After a couple of days in the surprisingly mild tropical lowlands, we retreated to the cool elevations of Rancho del Cielo, where Mottled Owls, Blue Mockingbirds, and a Carystoides ruby-eye were highlights right by our cabins. It was still the peaceful paradise we remembered from our last visit to Rancho del Cielo, and the folks from Texas Southmost College and Gorgas Science Foundation worked hard to make our stay enjoyable.
In Detail: Just a hundred yards into Mexico on our first morning, while we were waiting for the car permit, a Double-dotted Skipper made an unexpected appearance, eventually proving to be one of the rarest finds of the tour. Barely known in the US, it’s not even well known in Mexico. We also enjoyed a group of Cave Swallows, a White-eyed Vireo, and a Yellow-throated Warbler before continuing our day’s journey south. After driving past clouds of Giant Whites and migrating Turkey Vultures and Swainson’s Hawks, we lunched by the Rio Corona, where singing Spot-breasted Wrens, two White-tailed Hawks, and a Cryptic Skipper were enough to remind us we were in Mexico. A short stop in Cañon del Novillo was amazing for the numbers of butterflies and skippers in one small area. We never went more than 25 yards from the car and had over 100 species, including more than 30 skippers.
One of the most enjoyable dawn birding experiences was in the parking lot of our hotel the next morning, where the parade of birds included a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, both Couch’s and Tropical Kingbirds, Social and Boat-billed Flycatchers, Great Kiskadee, Clay-colored Robin, and Blue-gray and Yellow-winged Tanagers. Only a short drive later we stopped for our first Tamaulipas Crows, and then in some open fields found three close Double-striped Thick-knees, one not far away from an equally terrestrial but somehow astonishingly different Greater Roadrunner. We had a hard time tearing ourselves away from the flowers in front of a rural house, where Amazing Regal Hairstreaks, a Sky-blue Greatstreak, Arcius Swordtail, and several new skippers such as Green-backed Ruby-eye were the attraction. Higher in the mountains, west of Ocampo we ran into Green Jays and Rufous-capped Warblers, puddle parties of Huastecan Crescents with a Juno Silverspot, our only Guava Skipper, and a Purple-stained Skipper; this stop increased our list of pierids to an amazing 24 species. A birding finale in the afternoon came with Blue-black Grassquit, Indigo and Painted Buntings, and another Ferruginous Pymgy-Owl.
On our second full day in the lowlands, we stopped to admire the shiny Tamaulipas Crows gathering in the dawn, then after admiring the regional endemic Altamira Yellowthroat enjoyed our picnic breakfast at La Florida. We spent the next two mornings and an afternoon here, each visit quite different. Highlights among the birds were Amazon Kingfisher, Elegant Trogon, a migrant Greater Pewee, Plain Chachalacas, noisy Brown Jays, and Louisiana Waterthrush for the birds, while butterflies included Steely Firetip, Hedemann’s Satyr, Deathmask Spurwings, and Ruby-spotted Swallowtail.
We also spent parts of both days above the town of Gómez Farías, where the butterflying was nonstop. We did take a break to see an Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Golden-olive Woodpecker (surely to be split as Bronze-winged in the future), Fan-tailed Warbler, a surprise pair of Hooded Grosbeaks, and our only Crimson-collared Grosbeak. But not even those spectacular birds could distract us entirely from the fabulous butterflies, which included Broad-banded Swallowtail (one of nine swallowtails here), a Carousing Metalmark, Black and Black-spot Hairstreaks, Karwinski’s Beauty, a rare Rayed Sister, Cyna Blue and multiple Common Morphos and Crimson-patched Longwings.
Finally we moved on to Rancho del Cielo, the pinnacle of our experience. We adapted quickly to the totally different feel of the forest here, with oak, hickory, sweetgum, magnolia, and sugar maple growing alongside such tropical trees as podocarpus. We soon noticed the rarely seen ruby-eyes darting around our cabins, and soon determined that without knowing more we could only go as far as genus (Carystoides). The sunny areas near the cabins were great for butterflies—especially the blooming loquat tree and the impatiens—and surprisingly, it remained sunny during our entire stay. We added Eyed and Confusing Sisters for a total of seven species in this genus (compared to one in the entire United States), Star Satyr, Mephisto Ridens, Elegant Flat, Veined Ruby-eye, many Common Glassywings, and Zabulon Skipper. Also on the grounds of the rancho were Blue Mockingbird (up in the loquat tree), Long-billed Thrasher, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Rufous-capped Brush-Finch, Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, Pale-billed Woodpecker and a pair of Mottled Owls, but we had to go a bit farther afield to see Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush, Spot-breasted Wren, Crescent-chested Warbler, Singing Quail (best views ever, and a wonderful chorus to boot), Brown-backed Solitaire (also an incomparable song), Tamaulipas Pygmy-Owl (later showed up later by our rooms!), and Mountain Trogon.
Somehow, the bumpy ride back down the mountain didn’t seem as long as the way up, and the journey back to Brownsville went smoothly. Although we were able to add a couple of birds such as Snowy Egret and Laughing Gull outside our hotel the final morning, we all began to prepare ourselves for butterfly withdrawal until our next tropical trip.
Rich Hoyer
Updated: February 2008