I decided to get out of the Dallas, TX for a long weekend and headed down into Monterrey, Mexico this past weekend. The weather was primarily cool, overcast and drizzly. Bird activity was somewhat slow, but the food, lodging and scenery was great as usual. We stayed at the Hotel Santiago de Apostol in Santiago, southeast of Monterrey near the Cascadas Cola de Caballo. This is a new hotel located in a historic building located on the town square in Santiago.
We basically drove up into the mountains southeast of Santiago on a few occassions to see what birds we would be able to see. In spring and summer, this area is great for endemic species such as Maroon-fronted Parrot, Worthen's Sparrow (further south), Colima Warbler, Blue-crowned Motmot, among others. As mentioned earlier, bird activity was slow because of the weather, but we did manage to see the following species:
Gray Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Harris's Hawk
American Kestrel
Crested Caracara
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Red-billed Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
Red-crowned Parrot
Northern Raven
Chihuahuan Raven
Green Jay
Brown Jay
Gray-breasted Jay
Rufous-capped Brush Finch
Rufous-capped Warbler
Spot-breasted Wren
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Bridled Titmouse
Acorn Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Ringed Kingfisher
Great Kiskadee
Say's Phoebe
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Pine Flycatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Cedar Waxwing
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hutton's Vireo
Cassin's Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Golden-crowned Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Black-headed Grosbeak
Hepatic Tanager
Hermit Thrush
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Audubon's Oriole
Blue Bunting
Olive Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Oscar Carmona
Arlington, TX
hookbilledkite@hotmail.com
www.freewebs.com/texasbirdingtours - Texas and Mexico Birding Tours