NE Mexico: The Sierra Madre Oriental: Feb 07—14, 2009

An excellent introduction to the Neotropics promises many new birds and bird families in close proximity to the United States.

Lying only a few hours south of the Texas border is a tropical frontier that has captivated naturalists and birders for decades. In this fascinating corner of Mexico lies the Sierra Madre Oriental, the northernmost extension of the American Tropics, and home to a marvelous collection of parrots, motmots, trogons, woodcreepers, and many other exotic birds, mammals, butterflies, and reptiles. Many great naturalists, such as George Sutton, had their first encounters with tropical birds and other creatures in Northeast Mexico. Anyone who reads Sutton’s classic, At A Bend in a Mexican River, will want to experience this wonderful region and its bird life.

This exciting weeklong trip provides a superb introduction to the bird life of Northeast Mexico. Just four hours south of Brownsville, Texas, we will enter a tropical realm where 70 species of birds that never occur in the United States are found. The Gomez Farias area of Tamaulipas, the northeasternmost state in Mexico, is a great base from which we will explore the abundance of lowland and mountain habitats found around the town. Without question, the remarkable El Cielo Biosphere Reserve is the cornerstone of the region's biodiversity, protecting a complex mosaic of ecosystems that includes thorn-scrub, tropical evergreen forest, pine-oak montane woodlands, and even tropical cloud forest.

We will visit a variety of areas as we acquaint ourselves with a wide range of new birds and bird families that many will be experiencing for the first time. In fact, seven families of birds that never occur north of the border are found in this region. While we will certainly search diligently for the specialty birds of the area, a handsome birdlist will be complemented by educational interpretation that those with little tropical birding experience will find invaluable. 

Around Gomez Farias we will likely encounter Elegant Trogons and Blue-crowned Motmots, perhaps the most tropical-looking of Northeast Mexico's birds, while hummingbirds like the giant Wedge-tailed Sabrewing zip around sipping nectar. Thicket Tinamous are often heard whistling their presence from the dense understory, and more than ten species of doves and pigeons inhabit the forests and thorn-scrub. Blue Ground-Dove, Ruddy Quail-Dove, and Gray-headed Dove are among the most sought after species here.

We will also have chances for viewing wild parrots, the timeless symbol of the American Tropics, with White-crowned, Red-lored, and Red-crowned parrots all residents of the El Cielo area. Perhaps most exciting of all, our time in the field may allow us to locate the emerald-green Military Macaw, one of the most spectacular of all Mexican birds. On a final note, this area is also a haven for birds of prey, and among the many species possible, the regal Ornate Hawk-Eagle stands above all others.

Good accommodations and cuisine; all walking is over easy to moderate roads and trails; cool and dry weather expected.