Puerto Chiapas
5-1-08 (Bonnie's birthday)--We will call this the White-collared Seedeater
Day, since I didn’t even know there were three different races, and I saw two of
them here at Puerto Chiapas.
Puerto Chiapas is a new port opened by the Mexican government just 2-3 years ago
to cater to cruise ships. It services the city of Tapachula in southernmost
Chiapas state, close to the Guatemala border. Because it is so new it seems that
the tourism industry is not well developed yet. We signed up for a mangrove boat
trip as our shore excursion. After driving for some 45 minutes we arrived at the
mangroves. During the drive,birds were difficult to identify since we were in a
moving vehicle, but Great Kiskadees, Groove-billed Anis and a Broad-tailed Hawk
were spotted. There were 2 guides with us in the bus who provided an ongoing
commentary about the area, including history, agriculture and emphasis on
diverse nationalities of people who have settled in the area. One of the guides
spoke very good English and the other was hard to understand. When we arrived at
the mangrove area, the 36 of us needed to divide into two groups of 18 to fit
into the two boats. Embarrassingly, 34 lined up by one boat and 2 by the other!
Eventually to resolve the impasse, 16 of us gradually drifted over to the boat
with the English challenged guide. She did her best, but turned out to be a less
than stellar birder. She called Anhingas Neotropic Cormorants, and Least Grebes
were “sandpipers!” We had good looks at 2 Common Black Hawks, (which she called Solitary Eagles), Ringed Kingfishers, more Great Kiskadees, and a White Ibis. After
some fresh fruit, we were bussed back to he ship. We ate lunch in the Lido, the
restaurant on the ninth floor. Back at our room on the eighth floor, we were
looking over the port, and were surprised to see a Lesser Nighthawk silently
patrolling the port facility parking lot. We walked out into the sweltering heat
and humidity, got some nice views of the nighthawk, then walked out through the
gate of the port, into the surrounding community. An active Altamira Oriole nest
was in a lone tree in a field next to an small body shop with a blaring radio.
The same tree also seemed to have a family of 3 or 4 aptly named Social
Flycatchers. In the dry weedy fields of the port property, and often seen
perching in the chain link fence which surrounds the facility, were many
Blue-black Grassquits and two races of White-collared Seedeaters, the
White-Collared, and Cinnamon-rumped. They look like totally different species to
me, and since the North American field guides only depict the white-collared
form, I was initially stumped by the Cinnamon-rumped form (photo below). Pat was
overwhelmed by the heat and went back to the air-conditioned ship, but I
persisted, wandering farther afield. The most interesting finding was a Common
Tody-Flycatcher, a bird which I had no clue existed until I saw it, photographed
it, and identified it with the use of a field guide.
White-collared Seedeater
Lesser Nighthawk (photo by Pat Logen)
Bird List for Puerto Chiapas--34 species. 3 life birds for us.
Anhinga
Ani--Groove-billed
Black-Hawk--Common On the mangrove cruise--at least 2 of them.
Cormorant--Neotropic
Dove--Inca
Dove--Mourning
Egret--Cattle
Egret--Great
Flycatcher--Social
Frigatebird--Magnificent
Grackle--Great-tailed
Grassquit--Blue-black Many in the grass and fields, and in the chain-link fence around the cruise terminal. They and the seedeaters are so small that Pat at first thought thought they were hummingbirds.
Grebe--Least In the mangroves.
Ground Dove--Common
Ground Dove--Ruddy
Gull--Laughing
Gull--Ring-billed
Hawk--Broad-tailed
Ibis--White
Kingfisher--Ringed
Kiskadee--Greater
Nighthawk--Lesser Cruising the parking lot and waters around the cruise ship.
Oriole--Altamira A nest just outside the cruise terminal gate, on a city street.
Pelican--Brown
Pigeon--Rock
Robin--Clay-colored
Sandpiper--Spotted On the jetty as we pulled away.
Seedeater--White-collared In the fields near the port. Both White-collared and Cinnamon-rumped groups.
Swallow--Barn
Swallow--Mangrove
Tern--Royal
Tody-Flycatcher--Common A few blocks from the cruise terminal, on my hot afternoon walk.
Vulture--Black