Birding in Mexico: Gómez Farias-Azteca Road

Morning fog on our route

The next morning – our final day of birding – we returned to El Cielo, this time driving in Rene’s Jeep along the Gómez Farias-Azteca Road, which is known as a good birding site between the towns of (you guessed it!) Gómez Farias and Azteca. It is less steep and bumpy than the road we took to Alta Cima and passes through both forest and agricultural land.

A level part of the narrow road

Almost immediately, we saw two male Great Curassows walking down the road, a behavior Rene said he had never seen (like the Tinamous, they are normally deep in vegetation). We got a nice view, but, because I had to shoot through the windshield, I didn’t get great photos. I have fantastic shots of the same bird from Costa Rica, so that was OK.

Left, through the windshield; Right, Costa Rica

Almost immediately after that, we saw a line of birds slowly crossing the lane that we initially thought were female Great Curassows (which are brown, not black). But, it turned out to be a Plain Chachalaca parade.

This trip gave me several great views of this sometimes-reclusive bird

We saw lots of the same birds we had been seeing all week (I will spare you reading a list this time) but we were concentrating on one that had been evading us all week: the Golden-olive Woodpecker (Bronze-winged).

Speaker in the road

On multiple occasions, Rene had picked up their song and we had seen what may have been one deep in the tree. 

I saw the birds that he said were Golden-olive Woodpeckers, but not well enough to even claim them on eBird. I wanted to actually see the bird.

We stopped twice for extended periods of calling, listening and seeing distant activity that may or may not have been the bird.

Using a cell phone and a speaker to call birds

Finally, on the third stop, we spotted one, a female, way up in the dense trees. We never got an extraordinary view, but we saw it well enough for me to claim it.

And, I did get photos.

Right above us for a minute

This was probably our most difficult achieved target and we did it on the last day!

She moved farther away and stayed for awhile

As we moved into an area with cattle …

This calf was scratching its ears

… and sugar cane …

Susan birding in the cane field

… we started looking for Northern Bobwhites. This is a bird that I have long wanted to photograph. I grew up in an area rife with them, but since I became a birder have seen them only once, at San Angelo State Park in Texas where I went specifically to catch them and still didn’t get a shot. 

We heard a few, played some calls and one flew right at us. We thought it was going to pass us by, but then it returned and trotted up and down the road for a bit. 

Could I get closer?

It’s call is a distinctive (and loud) “Bob White, Bob White, Bob White”

Finally, success!!!

In the same area we saw (these pictures just show one of the many we often saw):

A couple of Crested Caracaras

Some Eastern Meadowlarks (we saw a Western in the Chihuahua Desert)

A couple of Montezuma Oropendolas

Two more Roadside Hawks

A White-winged Dove

And a female Yellow-faced Grassquit

On our way toward the end of our trip, we stopped at a dead tree to photograph a Black-crowned Tityra.

I couldn’t see it until I got out of the car and, then, Heather pointed out the location on a branch about two-thirds of the way up the tree. 

It was a male, out in the open, posing for us

As Susan was observing the bird through her binoculars, she asked Rene about the rufous malars. Heather and I were confused because we saw no brown or rust, just black and white. Susan and Rene were puzzled that we couldn’t see the brown. Then, we realized that there was a pair – a black and white male and a black, brown and white female – sitting on separate branches, the male above the female. 

  I hadn’t seen a female before

So, that was fun!

The drive was lovely and the birding was  good, but, our tour was almost over. Where did the time go?

Azteca at the end of the road

A Quick Final Stop

Then, we made one more stop, touring the El Cielo Interpretive Center. It is a large modern building with ramps that are a little scary because they are wet from condensation, rain or the center’s wall fountain. 

El Cielo Interpretive Center

The Center has a large aviary filled with Parrots and Macaws, most of which are rescued pets that cannot be released back into the wild.

A captive Red-lored Parrot

Here's a couple arguing:

They also have a few caged animals, including local species like a Black Bear, a Bobcat, a variety of snakes and some Jaguarundis plus some inexplicable exotics including a whole family of Ring-tail Lemurs.

Heather with a snake (Photo: Susan); Rene and Heather watching some Marmosets

We met one of the founders of the center, who gave us a rather extended tour. I was confused because I wasn’t sure if Rene had asked him to guide us or if Rene was even a friend. At first, I felt like he was rather pushy and wanted him to leave us alone. 

A wild magnolia outside the Interpretive Center

Later, he joined us for lunch at Comidas Sierra Bonita. This time, I had gorditas, also yummy. Mexican food definitely got better during this part of the trip.

But, we were out of time. We made the long drive back to Monterrey, arriving in time for dinner which, at Susan’s and Heather’s request, we had at a Carl’s Junior. I wasn’t mad about it.

We stayed at an Ibis Hotel close to the airport and left the next morning for an uneventful trip home.

The Monterrey Airport from the plane

Although many of the 140 birds I saw were repeats from South Texas and/or Costa Rica, I did gather 34 lifers, most of which I was able to photograph.

A productive trip

It was a good trip and Rene was a great trip leader. We discussed maybe going to Mazatlán and San Blas with him to see more Owls and Potoos.

We’ll see.

Trip Date: August 12-18